


Kuroi Neko (Kagami Noir)

by paperinkquillpoet



Series: Other Miraculous Holders [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Akumatized Alya Césaire, Akumatized Lila Rossi, Bee Kagami Tsurugi, Chat Noir Kagami Tsurugi, Chat Noir gave her the black cat miraculous, Evil Lila Rossi, F/M, Ladybug gave her the bee miraculous, Ladybug is the guardian, Not Canon Compliant, Peacock Gabriel Agreste, Plagg Loves Cheese (Miraculous Ladybug), Plagg and Tikki talk, Protective Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Protective Luka Couffaine, Sleep Deprived Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Snake Luka Couffaine | Viperion, a lot of akumas, adrien accidentally revealed his identity to kagami, adrien is stuck in italy with lila, honestly don't know how Miracle Queen works in this, i guess, she's called Hachi, she's called Kuroi Neko, someone might know someone else's identity, there might be some poorly hinted at identity stuff, viperion is a permanent part of the team, we've got some sentimonsters here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 23,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperinkquillpoet/pseuds/paperinkquillpoet
Summary: Planning to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir through a relentless stream of akumas, Gabriel Agreste sends Adrien to a photoshoot in Italy with Lila Rossi. But first, an accidental identity reveal with Kagami leads to him giving her his miraculous. She becomes Kuroi Neko, Ladybug's temporary partner. With the help of Viperion, they must defend Paris from Hawk Moth. But with their limits being pushed to the breaking point, can they?(Not connected to Queen Bug, the previous Other Miraculous Holders fic.)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth & Nathalie Sancoeur, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant (minor), Luka Couffaine & Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Series: Other Miraculous Holders [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762456
Comments: 23
Kudos: 60





	1. Italy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An accidental reveal, an unexpected announcement.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug shouted, throwing the cat ears up in the air. Everything around the two heroes went back to normal as the miraculous magic took effect.

Chat sighed with relief as his costume regained its catlike appearance. “I don’t ever want to be Chien Noir again.”

“And I don’t want to be Lady Dog either,” Ladybug agreed. “I never thought a dog lover could be that enthusiastic.”

“Cats are pawsome, but I’m not going to turn other people into cats if they don’t like them.” He leaned on his baton as he spoke.

“I agree, Chaton.” Then she seemed to realize the trap she’d walked into.

Before she could take it back, Chat grinned and said, “Why, thanks, my lady!”

“Chat!”

His miraculous beeped, signaling he only had a minute left before he transformed back. “Alas, I’ve got to run! See you to-meow-row.”

He dodged her playful swipe as he took off with his baton. Chat kept track of the seconds counting down until his transformation came undone, diving into an alleyway with only thirty seconds left. “Plagg, claws in.”

Precisely at that moment, Kagami ran into the alleyway, seeing his costume disappear with a bright flash of green. “Adrien?”

“What? No! I’m not Adrien.” Next to him, out of Kagami’s line of sight, Plagg facepalmed and hid. It was a lame, unbelievable excuse, and he knew it.

“Right. You’re someone else who happens to look identical to my friend Adrien.” She shook her head. “I won’t tell anyone as long as you hide me. I saw my mother go by. I got away from a lesson and decided to spend some time looking around Paris. Before the akuma gave me dog ears, of course.” She patted the side of her head. “I like cats more.”

“Oh.” He took off his white jacket and slipped it around Kagami’s shoulders. “I’ll hide you.” With a quick check of their surroundings, he pulled her along out of the alley and across the street, then down another street that would lead them back closer to home.

“Can I get my cheese now?” Plagg asked, floating out from behind Adrien.

Kagami jumped. “Is that your kwami?”

“Yes, that’s Plagg. His camembert is in my jacket. He probably wants it.” Adrien felt apologetic about his kwami’s behavior around Kagami.

With a hesitant smile, Kagami pulled the cheese out of the jacket pocket and gave it to the kwami. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I like her,” Plagg said, cheese crumbs flying from his mouth.

“I like you too,” Kagami replied, petting him. He purred slightly before he caught himself. Then Kagami turned to Adrien. “So I fought alongside you as Ryuko.”

“You did, and you were great.” Adrien smiled at her. He liked her, and she was a good fighter. If he loved anyone other than Ladybug, it could be Kagami.

Kagami blushed slightly. “Thanks. I liked fighting with you and Ladybug.”

Finally, they reached a point near the Collège Françoise Dupont where they had to part ways. “I’ll see you at fencing practice tomorrow,” Adrien said.

She nodded, handing his jacket back to him. “See you then. Bye, Adrien. Bye, Plagg.” She turned and walked away.

Adrien stared after her, holding the jacket in a bundle against his chest. He took a deep breath. It smelled like her.

“I never thought you’d look at anyone other than Ladybug that way,” Plagg snickered. “Except maybe your friend, Marinette.”

“I’m not looking at her that way,” Adrien protested.

“Right, she’s just a friend.” Plagg rolled his eyes. “You owe me so much camembert.”

Adrien sighed. “When we get home, I’ll give you cheddar.”

“No!”

The next day, Adrien woke up early to Plagg hovering in front of his face. “Can I get more cheese?”

“Ugh,” Adrien muttered, rolling over and burying his face in the pillow. “After breakfast.”

“I need breakfast too, you know,” Plagg said, settling onto the pillow next to Adrien’s face.

“Fine.” Adrien got out of bed, took a shower, and went to go eat breakfast. He returned to his room with a wheel of camembert and cut a slice out of it for Plagg.

Plagg promptly grabbed the rest of the wheel and floated out of Adrien’s reach. “Thank you!”

Trying to get the cheese back from his kwami, Adrien whisper-shouted, “Give it back! The wedge is for you!”

“But I’m hungry. I need more cheese,” Plagg retorted, even as he put the wheel down and took the wedge from Adrien, who immediately put the rest of the wheel in a cupboard.

“Adrien, your father wants to speak with you.” Nathalie said after a simple knock on the door.

“Yes, Nathalie,” Adrien said, spinning around to face the door. He looked at Plagg, who was chewing on the camembert. “What do you think that’s about?”

Mouth full of cheese, Plagg said, “I don’t know.”

“I hope it’s nothing too bad.” With that, Adrien walked out of the room and followed Nathalie to where his father was waiting, sitting behind his desk in a tall, imposing chair. “Hello, father.”

His father didn’t smile. “Adrien,” he started, “you will be taking a week away from school to go to a photoshoot in Venice, Italy. You will be leaving tomorrow”

“What?” There was no way he’d heard that correctly. “I’ll be going to Italy?” Leaving Paris, leaving Ladybug to face Hawkmoth alone. Nothing could be worse.

“Yes, Adrien,” Gabriel said tiredly. “And Ms. Rossi will be going with you.”

Well, nothing could be worse except that.

“Why?” The question burst out before he could stop himself.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity for the two of you to get to know each other better, and it would allow the brand to gain good publicity. The shoot will be extremely authentic and feature both you and Lila.”

The next week was going to be a nightmare. Maybe Hawkmoth would defeat Ladybug and things would be truly hopeless. But all Adrien said was “Yes, father.”

“Nathalie will help you pack tomorrow morning and go with you. I will stay in Paris to attend to other business.” When Adrien opened his mouth to ask a question, Gabriel raised a hand to stop him. “Before you ask about school. I have already arranged it with your teachers that all your missed work will be sent to you online. Now, that will be all.”

With a small, defeated nod, Adrien turned and walked back to his room, head drooping. As soon as he sat down on the edge of his bed, Plagg rested on his shoulder. “What happened?”

“I’m going to Italy with Lila for a week.” He buried his head in his hands.

Plagg dropped his cheese. “I can put stinky cheese in her shoes and your father’s.”

“Plagg!”

“You’re right, that’s a waste of cheese.” The kwami smiled when Adrien gave a short laugh.

“What am I going to do? I can’t leave Ladybug by herself.” Adrien sighed. “She might get hurt! What if I come back and Hawkmoth has her miraculous?”

“She can look after herself, and if Lila is out of town with you, I don’t think she can get akumatized.”

That was a small mercy. “You’re right, Plagg.”

“I know. Can I get some cheese?” He promptly phased through the door of the cupboard where Adrien had put the camembert to pick up a piece for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> straight to the action, isn't it


	2. A Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fencing with Kagami, patrol with Ladybug, and an idea forming in Adrien's mind...

Later, Adrien was fencing with Kagami. As they fought, his mind drifted back to how he wielded his baton as Chat Noir and how he wouldn’t be there for his lady. His focus lapsed, and Kagami had her blade at his throat.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked, looking concerned. “You were even easier to beat than usual.”

“I’m not that easy to beat,” Adrien protested.

“You are. Now tell me, what’s up?” Kagami pulled him over to the bench and sat him down.

Since she knew he was Chat Noir, he realized he could tell her everything. “Father wants to send me to Venice for a photoshoot with Lila. I hate her. I hate it. I don’t want to miss school for a week!” He lowered his voice. “What if there’s an akuma and I’m not there to fight it?”

“Your friends will send you the work you missed, won’t they?” Kagami asked.

“I’d rather be there in class with them.” He was going to miss his friends so much.

Kagami nodded. “I don’t want you to spend time with only Lila for company.”

“Believe me, I’d rather spend time with you.” He gave her a quick hug, and awkwardly, she hugged him back. “And my friends.”

“Can I help while you’re gone?” Kagami raised her fencing foil and twirled it in her hand.

Adrien was starting to get an idea. He’d fought alongside Kagami before, when she was Ryuko. She had a similar set of fighting skills as he did. She knew his identity, and he could trust her. And he really liked her. “I think you can…”

“How?” Kagami leaned forward.

Glancing around, he said, “I’ll tell you later.” He stood up. “How about a rematch?”

“Do you really want to lose again?” Kagami pointed the tip of the foil at Adrien’s chest as she stood.

For a moment, Adrien forgot his troubles and laughed. “You’re just scared that I’ll win.”

After the practice, Adrien went back to his room and found Plagg. “Plagg! I have a plan so Ladybug will still have a Chat Noir.”

“Oh no, what’s your plan?” Plagg asked hesitantly, floating closer to Adrien.

“I’m going to give Kagami the black cat miraculous while I’m gone!” He grinned like it was a good idea, which he thought it was.

The kwami’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Why?” Shaking his head, Plagg continued, “What is Ladybug going to think?”

“Because she knows who I am and she’s fought with us before. Ladybug will be glad for the help, I hope. I don’t want to leave her without a partner.” Adrien felt extremely guilty about it. He didn’t want to let his lady down.

“You’re not thinking. Ladybug can get her own backup. She has all the miraculous to possibly hand out. She’ll be mad if her partner gives his to someone else.”

“She won’t be,” Adrien insisted. “I trust Kagami to do this.”

Sputtering, Plagg tried again. “Let Ladybug give her the dragon miraculous.”

Adrien tried a different tactic. “I’ll give Kagami a two-week supply of camembert.”

After a brief internal struggle, Plagg gave up and said, “It’s a deal!”

“Now I should go tell Ladybug I’ll be leaving town.” He stood up. “Plagg, claws—”

“Are you going to tell her about Kagami?” Plagg interrupted.

“I’ll let that be a surprise.”

“She’ll be surprised,” Plagg muttered.

Adrien shook his head. “We’ll discuss this later. Plagg, claws out!”

A few minutes later, Chat Noir was on the Eiffel Tower waiting for Ladybug. He could see her red figure bouncing from rooftop to rooftop until she threw her yoyo and pulled up herself up the side of the tower, landing gracefully next to him.

“Purr-fect landing, my lady,” Chat joked, leaning against the side of the Eiffel Tower as he grinned.

Rolling her eyes, Ladybug quipped back, “Paw-ful pun, Chat.”

Chat gasped dramatically, putting a hand on his chest. “I’m hurt.” 

Ladybug visibly fought a smile before Chat broke down in laughter, at which point she let herself laugh. After they both stopped laughing, she asked, “Shall we get started on our patrol?”

Immediately, the smile fell from Chat’s face. “Actually, I have something to talk to you about first.”

Sensing the somber tone of his voice, Ladybug nodded seriously. “What is it?”

“I’m leaving Paris for a week,” Chat blurted out, “I’m sorry and I won’t forgive myself if an akuma hurts you while I’m gone.”

“I can give you the Horse Miraculous,” Ladybug suggested. “Then you can come back to fight.”

Chat shook his head. “No, I’ll be occupied and surrounded by people the entire time. I can’t sneak back to Paris to fight.”

“It’s okay, Chaton.” Ladybug took his hand in hers. “I’ll be fine. I’ll miss you, but I can give out the other miraculous if I need backup.”

That was what Plagg had said. “Don’t you want a black cat with you?”

“Of course I do. I want my partner.” Ladybug smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“And I want to be here for you,” Chat said more softly. Attempting a smile, he forced a cheerful tone and said, “Well, bugaboo, it’s time for us to patrol!”

If she wasn’t convinced, she didn’t press him on the topic. “Race you?”

“It’s on.” Chat took off, and Ladybug laughed and followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter, but things will come together soon...


	3. Kagami Noir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien gives Kagami his miraculous.

Still breathing hard from the race all over Paris and some play-fighting with Ladybug, Chat landed by Kagami’s window and knocked. He was holding a bag with two weeks’ worth of camembert and other cheeses in one hand, having picked it up from where he’d hidden it earlier.

Surprised, Kagami swung open her window, almost hitting the hero in the face. “Chat Noir!” Her voice just above a whisper, she continued, “Adrien, when you said you’d tell me later, I didn’t think you meant this.”

“My idea involves Chat Noir, so I had to do something like this.” He tipped his head in a way that Kagami found kind of cute. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, yeah.” She moved from in front of the window, letting Chat Noir climb through it into her room.

“Plagg, claws in.” With a burst of green light, Adrien now stood in front of her. The cute kwami Plagg was next to him.

“Cheese,” Plagg whined, diving into the bag of cheese and emerging with a carefully wrapped wedge of camembert. “So much cheese!”

Adrien gave him a look of warning. “Don’t eat all of it.”

“So what’s your plan with Chat Noir?” Kagami wanted to know. There were only so many options, but all of them were interesting.

Plagg gave his holder a withering look, and Adrien sighed before turning back to Kagami. “I’m giving you my miraculous while I’m gone. I trust that you’ll give it back when I return.”

That wasn’t what Kagami had been expecting. “What?”

“You’re going to have to deal with me for a week,” Plagg summarized, drifting up to Kagami.

“I’m going to be Chat Noir?” She was astonished. He trusted her enough with his miraculous? She’d wielded another one before, twice in fact, but this was the black cat miraculous. “This is unbelievable.”

“Ladybug needs a Chat Noir, and I think you’d be a good partner for her. You were a good dragon, you’re a wonderful fighter, I trust you, and you know who I am.” He ticked off the items on his fingers as she continued to stare at him in disbelief.

When she didn’t answer, Adrien asked, “Do you want to do this?” He touched his ring and twisted it.

Kagami simply nodded.

With a long look at Plagg and the ring, Adrien took the ring off and put it on Kagami’s finger hesitantly. She blushed slightly and let his hand linger on hers for a few moments before he pulled away.

“So that’s your miraculous,” Kagami said in wonder, touching the ring. “What should I know before I transform?”

Adrien ran through the list quickly. “You say ‘Plagg, claws out’ to transform and ‘Plagg, claws in’ to detransform. You have your baton as a weapon. The length can change as you need it to. Your attack is ‘cataclysm,’ which you should know about by now. You can control how much you destroy when you touch the object so you don’t destroy the entire Eiffel Tower instead of just part of it. Normally it’s important to Ladybug’s plan. I use my baton to fight while she comes up with the plan.” 

Kagami nodded along. “I think I’ve got it. Can I transform and test out some of this stuff?”

“Sure.” Adrien said. Ladybug was the only other person who had transformed with his miraculous until now, and he knew it would be strange seeing a different Chat Noir.

“Plagg, claws out!” Green light engulfed her and then Kagami stood in front of him in a slim black suit, a baton in her hand. The material was slightly textured to look like fur. Her mask had whiskers, and the cat ears on her head looked fuzzy. Her hair seemed messier, like his did when he was wearing the suit. Instead of a belt-tail, hers seemed to be more like a ribbon or a cloth sash securely wrapped around her waist.

Kagami took in her appearance in the mirror, running her hands over her sides to feel the faint texture of her sleek suit. Her ears felt soft and her tail was made of the same unidentifiable material of her suit. She flicked one of the whiskers experimentally, feeling the somewhat stiff wire tickle her face. Finally, she said, “I like it.”

Adrien sighed. “You look so different.” From his Chat Noir. From her usual self. 

“Do I get my own hero name?” She had an expectant smile on her face.

“Sure.” Ladybug had come up with Lady Noire, so Kagami should get to choose her own name.

“How about Kitty Noire? Chatonne Noire? Panther?” She leaned forward on her baton and tapped her chin in frustration.

“Kitty Noire sounds cute,” Adrien said in a soft, thoughtful voice.

Kagami made a face. “I don’t want to sound cute.” 

“Your costume is really cute though.” Adrien reached out and flicked her ear. She swatted his hand away, fighting a smile.

“Chat de Nuit? Cat of the Night? Night Cat? You got the good name!”

“Chat Noir is the best name,” Adrien agreed. “Well, we have Multimouse, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Queen Bee, Viperion, Bunnyx, Pegasus…”

“Mythology!” Kagami exclaimed. “Like Bast? Bastet? No, I don’t like that.”

“Ladybug was Lady Noire when she had my miraculous. You could be Miss Kit or Miss Noire,” Adrien suggested.

She shook her head. “Miss? Why can’t I be a warrior? A fighter? A hero?”

“L’héroïne Noire. I don’t know, doesn’t have a ring to it.”

She’d had enough of this. “Plagg, claws in.” Kagami transformed back and sat down on her bed.

Plagg dove for the cheese immediately, opting for a small but still sizable since he hadn’t been transformed for that long. “That’s better than Adrien staying out for hours.”

“Hey, can you help me with something?” Kagami leaned over to look at her kwami closely. “I need a hero name.”

“I don’t want to.” Plagg said, then began listing off options. “Panther. Artemis. Nyx. Nox. Noctis. Luna. Neko.”

“Neko is Japanese for cat.” Kagami thought for a moment. “Kuroi Neko. Black cat.”

“Perfect,” Adrien said. “Chat Noir, but in a different language.”

“Glad we got that sorted out,” Plagg said. The two teenagers stared at him. “How long have you spent on that?”

Kagami glanced at the clock. “Too long. Wait, how long before you have to get home?”

“Oh, I should be going home now,” Adrien replied, suddenly aware of the time. “I hope nobody figured out that I was gone. I’ll see you both in a week. Look after each other, okay?” He hugged Kagami and then nuzzled Plagg against his cheek.

The kwami let out a purr and didn’t try to hide it this time. Emotional, he told Adrien, “I’ll miss you. Look after yourself and don’t let Lila get away with her lies.”

“Bye,” Kagami said. “I’ll beat you at fencing when you get back.”

“Plagg, claws out!” Nothing happened, because the ring was on Kagami’s finger. His expression fell and his shoulders slumped.

Kagami felt bad about having his ring. She patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Why don’t I try out my powers as Kuroi Neko and take you home?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said. She needed to practice, and he couldn’t ask for his miraculous back now.

“Plagg, claws out!” Kuroi Neko picked him up easily, glanced at the window, and set him down again. After reopening the window and climbing through it, she held her arms out to pull Adrien through. Then she whipped out her baton and took off, bounding up to the rooftops. It was freeing, racing through the city from above, not a care in the world. She couldn’t do this as Kagami. How Adrien could give this up was beyond her. Already she wanted to keep the miraculous, but out of loyalty to her friend, possibly soon to be more than a friend, she needed to give it back.

“It’s so strange to be carried by a different black cat,” Adrien remarked, leaning more toward her body. His arms were securely around her neck so he wouldn’t fall. She could carry his weight easily because of the magic of the miraculous, and it was nice having him in her arms.

“I hope it’s not bad,” she replied, pausing on one of the rooftops close to, but out of sight of, the Agreste mansion. From the look on his face, it was hard to tell.

“I know I’ll be Chat Noir again in a week, so I don’t mind,” Adrien said. “Plus, it’s nice being carried across the rooftops of Paris, under the starry night sky, by a strong, beautiful friend.”

Kagami blushed. “Thanks. Do you want to watch the night sky for a few minutes?” When he nodded, she sat down on the rooftop and he followed suit. They leaned closer to each other, holding hands. Kagami didn’t know which of them moved closer or if they both did, but soon they were sitting with their legs touching.

All too soon, Adrien checked his phone for the time. “We should be going home. We can resume this when I get back from Italy, okay?”

“I hope so.” Kuroi Neko stood up and picked Adrien up again.

Finally, they reached Adrien’s home, and she dropped him off in his room. “Plagg, claws in.” Kagami sighed as her transformation came undone. She pulled Adrien in for a quick hug. “Take some cheese and a last look at your room, Plagg. For now.”

Plagg zipped around, grabbing some cheese as he circled the room. He patted Adrien’s shoulder and the boy sighed. “Goodnight, Plagg. See you in a week.”

“Bye, Adrien. Get some sleep.” Finishing the cheese, the kwami floated back to his new holder.

With a barely audible utterance of her transformation phrase, Kagami transformed back into Kuroi Neko and left the room. “Goodbye,” Adrien whispered, tears escaping from his eyes. He wrapped himself in his blanket, curling up on his bed, and let himself sob through the emptiness growing inside of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What could possibly go wrong now?


	4. Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Lila leave Paris together, Kagami talks to Plagg

The next morning, he woke up to Nathalie knocking on his door. He glanced around, looking for Plagg, and then remembered sadly that Plagg was with Kagami. “Come in,” Adrien forced out.

“It’s time to pack,” Nathalie said, wheeling in two suitcases. “I already packed most of the essentials, at Gabriel’s request. Look through this and tell me what else you’ll need.”

Reluctantly, Adrien climbed out of his blankets to look through the items. In less than half an hour, the packing was done. After a shower and breakfast, Adrien was ready to leave. Nathalie led Adrien to the car, and the door opened to reveal Lila in the back seat. Adrien’s stomach dropped. “Lila.”

“Good morning, Adrien. I’m so glad we have a week all to ourselves on a nice, romantic trip through Italy. I can show you all the sights and we can come back as a couple, away from that interfering Marinette.” Her voice had turned from sickly sweet to scarily scheming.

Already Adrien wished he had just spent the next week hiding out in alleyways as Chat Noir. Homeless but happy. Marinette probably would have given him pastries from her parents’ bakery if he’d stopped by and asked.

Nathalie sat down in the front passenger seat with a sigh. “Adrien, get in or we’ll be late.” She didn’t particularly like Lila, but if Gabriel’s plan required it, she was willing to go along with this.

Adrien sat down as far from Lila as he could, only for Lila to edge as close to him as she could. “Please, Lila, I don’t have enough room over here,” he said, fighting claustrophobia.

“You have plenty of room.” An arm around his waist, uncomfortably pulling him toward her.

His voice high-pitched, he squeaked, “Nathalie?”

She turned around. “Lila, get your hands off Adrien. You’re not modeling with him yet.”

With a huff, she let go of him but didn’t move away. Adrien backed himself up against the car door and stayed there until they got to the airport. On the plane, he begged Nathalie to sit next to him, leaving Lila glaring at them from across the aisle, arms crossed. Soon, the three of them were in Italy, far away from the Hawkmoth and his plans for the next week.

Things were going much better for Kagami. “What cheese do you like?” she asked Plagg. “Besides camembert.”

“Brie. Goat cheese. I don’t like cheddar, but they have good kinds if I have no other choice.” He continued listing off what seemed like every cheese in existence. “There’s fontina, havarti, muenster, lots of melting cheeses. Gouda. Gruyere. Blue cheeses.”

Kagami wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like blue cheese.”

“That’s fine, as long as I have my camembert.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She grabbed a piece of camembert from the container in Adrien’s cheese bag. “Have a snack.”

“Thanks!” Plagg devoured it and burped loudly.

Kagami shook her head. Plagg was a unique character, but she liked his company nonetheless. She’d miss him when this week was over, but she knew Adrien, who had been Chat for so long, must miss him immensely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but the less Lila, the better.


	5. Critica

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for our heroes to face an akuma.

She didn’t have any reason to transform until that night. She was in her room, listening to music with Plagg, when she got an akuma alert on her phone, telling her to seek shelter. The akuma was reportedly near the movie theater.

“Sorry, Plagg, the music will have to continue later.” She put her phone away. “Plagg, claws out!”

In less than five minutes, Kuroi Neko was on a rooftop near the site of the battle. Unsure of how to approach, she decided to watch for an opportunity and positioned herself out of sight of Ladybug and the akuma.

“Critica! Over here!” Ladybug shouted, drawing a black-and-white figure with a camera and a notebook away from the people.

Pointing the camera, Critica said, “You’re not playing your part! You should be a helpless lady, a damsel in distress.” Pressing a button on the camera, the flash fired.

Ladybug dodged the burst of light that erupted from the camera. From her new position, she said, “You’re wrong. I’m not helpless or in distress.” But she didn’t have Chat Noir, so she had to fight this alone. She couldn’t sneak away to get another miraculous.

Critica turned and fired his camera at someone else. “Your role in this movie is fighting Ladybug!” The light engulfed a group of people and they turned black-and-white like an old movie. “Go, my actors!” Faced with the group, Ladybug backed up and retreated.

Kuroi Neko took this as an opportunity to drop down from the rooftop, landing softly in front of Ladybug. She was next to a streetlamp that allowed Ladybug to see her clearly in the night. In response, Ladybug whipped out her yoyo, sending it around the post of the streetlamp before it wrapped around Kuroi Neko, pinning her to the streetlamp. Unable to move her arms, she struggled slightly before realizing it probably gave Ladybug the impression that she was an enemy.

“Who are you? One of the actors?” Ladybug asked.

“No, I’m Kuroi Neko, your temporary black cat partner while Chat is out of town for a week.”

“That’s impossible! He’d never give up his miraculous and reveal his identity.” Then it occurred to her that Kuroi Neko knew Chat was gone for a week. “That mangy cat!”

“It’s not his fault. I walked into an alleyway as he was detransforming.” More quietly, she added, “Plagg wanted so much cheese. I have two weeks’ worth of camembert courtesy of his permanent holder.”

“But why?” Ladybug retrieved her yoyo, and Kuroi Neko sighed in relief.

“A ladybug needs a black cat. And since I already knew, I could be your black cat. You don’t have to fight alone.”

Ladybug sighed. “There’s a reason I give out the other miraculous to people I trust. I don’t know who you are. How can I trust you?”

Of course, she did trust Kagami. She just didn’t know Kuroi Neko was Kagami. “Trust Chat’s judgment.”

“He gave up his miraculous without asking me first. I don’t know how much I can trust him,” Ladybug replied bitterly. She had a point.

“Would an identity reveal help you trust me?” Kuroi Neko asked.

“No!” Ladybug said hurriedly. “It’s not safe. Not here. And it might give away Chat’s identity, too.” Again, she had a point.

At that moment, the actors came around the corner. “Well, I guess it’s time for a fight,” Kuroi Neko said. “I’ll fend them off while you come up with a plan. That’s what Chat told me to do”

“Any plans that you come up with are welcome, too,” Ladybug replied, wrapping her yoyo around the streetlamp to launch herself at the group of mind-controlled actors.

Kuroi Neko took off running, using her baton to vault herself toward the actors. The baton shortened back as she landed, now the perfect length to use as a sword. Kicking and swiping, the heroine turned into a whirlwind, taking out half the actors. From the corner of her eye, she saw a black-and-white figure with a chainsaw cutting through something. As it began falling directly at Ladybug, she shoved her out of the way with her baton, causing her to fall on another actor. A large beam fell into the crowd, pinning most of them down and causing the rest to scatter.

Ladybug stared at Kuroi Neko for a moment before speaking. “Thank you. Now let’s go take down Critica.”

“It would be an honor.” Tipping her head respectfully, Kuroi Neko followed Ladybug back to where Critica was amassing an army.

“My army of actors, to your places! It’s time for battle!” Some were dressed in their civilian clothes. Others were wearing clothes like from old movies. But all of the black-and-white people had cameras like Critica’s.

“We are in so much trouble,” Ladybug muttered.

The cameras began clicking, and Kuroi Neko snapped into action, pulling Ladybug out of the line of fire. Then Ladybug yanked them out of the cameras’ range and onto a rooftop.

“We need to isolate Critica,” Ladybug said.

“Fight him on our territory, where his army can’t reach us,” Kuroi Neko added.

Eyes gleaming, Ladybug concluded, “And, we need an army of our own.”

“I like your thinking.” Then it occurred to her that she might call for Kagami. “Who are you thinking of?”

“Viperion.” A gentle blush crossed her face. Did Ladybug have a crush on Viperion?

With a small smirk, Kuroi Neko prompted, “Anyone else?”

“Rena Rouge, Carapace, Ryuko, Pegasus, King Monkey, Bunnyx, maybe even Ryuko and Queen Bee.” Calling in Chloé might be a sign of desperation, so it wasn’t a surprise that she was last on the list. “But I think we shouldn’t really call in the full army yet.”

“Why?” The large force might be necessary to counter a literal army. Hawk Moth wasn’t fooling around this time. It was a good thing Adrien was safely out of Paris, but Kuroi Neko was less experienced than Chat Noir.

“We can try with Viperion’s Second Chance first. If that doesn’t help, then we bring in the army. We don’t want our allies down first.”

“Good strategy. I’ll try to take out some of the army while you get Viperion.”

“Thanks!” Ladybug dashed off, red costume disappearing behind the buildings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle shall continue next time...


	6. Viperion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Kuroi Neko face Critica with the help of Viperion.

Kuroi Neko cracked her knuckles, extended her baton, and dove into the fray. Dodging flashes left and right, she began knocking out the army. One flash almost hit her before she pushed another actor in front of her, letting him take the blow. Then she vaulted back out of the crowd, getting some of the group to split off and chase her. She jumped over a brick wall and paused to catch her breath. Then as the actors began climbing up the wall, she knocked them backwards. She knew the crowd was only going to grow until they took out Critica.

“I’m back!” Ladybug landed beside her and let go of Viperion. His hair almost matched his costume, and he seemed a little older than Ladybug. “I explained everything to Viperion on the way over here.”

“We should get closer to Critica before I activate my power.” Viperion motioned to his bracelet.

“Good idea.” Ladybug pulled Viperion back up to the rooftop and Kuroi Neko followed them.

They got within sight of Critica to find him surrounded by a good portion of Paris, all armed with weapons. Some were breaking into houses, dragging other people out to turn them into actors. It was remarkable how much damage could be done by someone who apparently hated the movie he’d just seen. It was incredible how powerful Hawk Moth was.

“So the plan is Second Chance, Lucky Charm, we chase down the akuma, use my power if it’s necessary, break the akumatized object – it’s either the notebook or the camera, but the camera seems to be a weapon, so it’s probably not that – and then fix everything,” Kuroi Neko summarized.

“Exactly. When you get down there, distract them,” Ladybug told her. “Viperion, you know what to do from here.”

“Five minutes.” He slid the snake on the bracelet.

Kuroi Neko jumped off the rooftop. “Cataclysm!” The building under their feet tipped forward, collapsing onto the crowd. Flashes fired at Kuroi Neko and Ladybug, transforming them both.

“Second Chance!” He slid the snake on the bracelet.

They were back on the rooftop. Kuroi Neko jumped off the rooftop, only to have her sash caught by Viperion. “Slow down. Wait. And most importantly, think. You got both yourself and Ladybug hit by when you used Cataclysm on the building.”

“Oh.” She turned to Ladybug. “What do we do?”

“Lucky Charm!” A red mask with black dots, nearly identical to hers but sturdier, fell into her hands. She sighed. “I guess we’ll… figure out what to do with this later.” With that, she jumped off the roof.

Viperion followed Ladybug and Kuroi Neko from a distance. He couldn’t get hit by any of the actors, so he relegated himself to throwing different items from a distance. He cheered to himself when he knocked one of them out.

Ladybug took a risk, swinging up to a nearby traffic signal. She stood out like a red target as she threw her yoyo at Critica. In response, he grabbed her yoyo, forcing her to let go of it to avoid being pulled down into the crowd. There was a flash and the color disappeared from her costume.

“Second Chance!” He slid the snake on the bracelet.

“We didn’t win,” Viperion informed them solemnly. “Ladybug, don’t throw your yoyo at Critica while standing on a traffic signal.”

“Got it. Lucky Charm!” She got the mask again, sighed as she said the same words, and jumped off the roof. “Kuroi Neko, distract him!”

“Cataclysm!” Kuroi Neko sent the streetlight toppling. It missed Critica but blocked or pinned down some of the people under his spell. While she was distracted, a bolt of light hit her.

This wasn’t going to end well, but until Ladybug got hit, he was going to see what happened and learn from it. Kuroi Neko was making her way toward Critica. Ladybug took that opportunity to swing toward Critica. She threw the mask at his camera, letting it absorb a flash, the red fading from it. But a flash from behind got her immediately after.

“And now,” Critica announced, “the final act. Hand over your—”

“Second Chance!” He slid the snake on the bracelet.

He stopped Ladybug and Kuroi Neko from jumping back into action. “Time four. You both got hit. No throwing your Lucky Charm, watch your back with the Cataclysm, and don’t let him grab your yoyo.”

“So what works?” Ladybug asked.

“Staying out of range. We need to get rid of the others.”

“That might take some assistance,” Ladybug replied.

Viperion shook his head. “I’d have to sneak away and detransform, you’d have to get the others and hope they’re not hit and you aren’t hit and I’m not hit. It’s a little late for this.”

Tapping her baton on the rooftop, Kuroi Neko asked impatiently, “Can’t we lead him away and Catacylsm something?”

“As long as we don’t get hit,” Ladybug reasoned.

“As long as you don’t get hit,” Kuroi Neko said.

“Critica is going to be after me. That will be hard.” Nevertheless, a plan was forming.

“Not if he thinks someone else is you,” Viperion realized. “Cast your Lucky Charm.”

Ladybug nodded. “Lucky Charm!” The mask fell into her hands, and this time, a lightbulb went on over her head. “So I give this to Kuroi Neko, and as long as we stay on the rooftops, we’ll look somewhat alike.” It definitely helped that it was dark around them.

“And I lead Critica away, destroy something to isolate him. While he’s distracted, Ladybug breaks the akumatized object and this is all over.” She took the mask from Ladybug and fitted it over her own. “How do I look?”

With a thumbs-up, Ladybug answered, “Like you’re ready to take down a villain.”

“Then let’s do this!” Kuroi Neko took off, jumping across the rooftops with her baton. She poked her head over the edge of the roof, hiding her black costume, and hollered at the top of her lungs, “If you want me, Critica, it’s got to be a solo act!”

“I’m the director in this, Ladybug!” A camera flash aimed at her fell short as she jumped to the next rooftop, and Viperion sighed in relief, checking the time. They had a little over three minutes.

“No, you’re the villain!” Kuroi Neko yelled back, continuing to draw Critica away. “Put down the cameras and we can talk!”

“You’re standing in the way of my movie!” 

“If you want me to star in it, we can’t have so many actors!” Kuroi Neko glanced around, prompting Viperion to do the same. Ladybug was nowhere to be seen, and they could only hope that she was safe.

Critica frowned. “My actors, you have a new role. Climb those buildings and get her!”

They swarmed the building, all of them climbing up the sides of the building. A blur of red showed Viperion that somehow, Ladybug had gotten to the other side of the street. She must have gone around the crowd while everyone was looking at the imposter Ladybug.

Kuroi Neko jumped to another, higher rooftop, making the actors change direction. Then she vanished over the edge. “Cataclysm!”

The building toppled onto the actors. Critica screamed, loud and wordless. Ladybug’s yoyo shot out and hit the notebook. It broke, releasing the dark butterfly that she quickly purified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle may be over, but the war is far from won...


	7. After the Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the akuma fight, and Adrien and Kagami talk

Aware that they only had a minute and a half, Viperion got down from the building and ran to her side. All around them, people were confused and screaming. Kuroi Neko was nowhere to be found.

“What happened?” The man with the notebook asked in confusion. “I was inside watching a movie to write a review. The plot was poor, most of the characters were poorly developed, and the action was unrealistic. Then the one good character died, and I got really upset. And now I’m here.”

“Understandable.” She glanced at Viperion with an expression much to the contrary, and he fought a laugh.

“We’d like to stay longer,” Viperion said, “But we need to find Kuroi Neko and the Lucky Charm.”

Ladybug nodded and took off running toward the rubble. “Kuroi Neko! Where are you?” She began digging.

“Over here,” Viperion said quietly, picking up her limp body and carrying it clear of the rubble. He set her down on the ground gently.

With a gasp, Ladybug ran over, feeling scared and guilty. “She did this for me, and this is the first time we fought together.” She picked up the mask and threw it in the air, shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Around them, everything magically began repairing itself.

While Ladybug knelt beside her new partner, Kuroi Neko began to regain consciousness. Her injuries had faded to dull bruises. “Did we win?”

“Yes, we won,” Ladybug reassured her.

Feeling extremely relieved, Kuroi Neko smiled. “Good.”

“We should all split up now before we transform back,” Viperion reminded them. They had about thirty seconds.

Ignoring the lingering ache that even magic couldn’t get rid of, Kuroi Neko nodded and hurried to an isolated place. She ducked into an alleyway, hiding behind a dumpster, out of sight, before she detransformed.

Plagg looked very worried and slightly angry, which was confirmed by the fact that he didn’t eat his cheese immediately when Kagami handed it to him. “You could have been killed when that building fell!”

“So? Ladybug would have brought me back.” Her voice faltered, betraying some slight doubt.

“You still would be hurt. It’s not like my dumb kitten Adrien taking every magic hit for his lady. That’s magical, not physical. It hurts Ladybug and puts her at risk, but it won’t hinder them as much during the next fight compared to you needing Ladybug’s Creation magic to bring you back to life and put your bones back together!”

“That makes sense.” It explained what she was feeling. Magic had put her back together but had only done so much. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

The kwami blinked, unaccustomed to his holder listening. “What?”

“I’ll try not to get myself killed in battle. I don’t want to hurt Ladybug and hazard us not winning. A good fighter adapts and uses the good strategy she learns along the way.”

“I like working with Adrien, but you’re not bad.” He took a bite of the cheese. “Let’s go back to your place and get some sleep.”

Meanwhile, Viperion and Ladybug had snuck away to where Viperion could detransform. He sighed when he took off the Ouroboros bracelet. “Thanks for letting me have this,” Luka said, handing it back to Ladybug.

“You’re a good holder for it. Maybe one day, I’ll let you keep it.” Turning the bracelet in her hand, Ladybug thought of giving it right back to him for good. She didn’t know much about Kuroi Neko, so she wanted an ally she knew she could trust. Maybe her crush on him was influencing her, and knowing he liked her as a civilian wasn’t helping. One thing might lead to another and she might even reveal her identity to him. She couldn’t do that without putting them both at risk more than they already were.

Luka smiled. “If you ever want me to keep it, I’d be happy to fight alongside you, Ladybug.”

“Thanks, Luka.” Snapping out of her slight daze, she remembered that her timer was running out. “I hope I can swing by again soon, but not for an akuma battle.”

“Bye!” Luka waved at her as she swung off.

Adrien checked the Ladyblog several times before he got a report of an akuma. The footage was stunning and terrifying. The red-masked Kagami on the building, then the building’s collapsed. The return of Luka as Viperion, carrying her from the rubble. How many times did they fail, and how was this a victory? Sure, the Lucky Charm had saved her, but that akuma had been brutal. Why was this happening now when he was out of town?

Knocking on the door, Lila called out, “Can I come in?”

“No, I’m about to sleep,” Adrien replied. After dealing with Lila for the day, he was going to take this time for himself.

And for talking to Kagami. He texted her: _Are you okay?_

 _Yeah_ , came the response. _A little bruised, but good, considering a building fell on me! Your cheese monster says hi._

Adrien laughed. They talked for a while until they decided they should sleep, which was difficult given Lila pounding on Adrien’s door and Plagg’s cheese breath in Kagami’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will only go downhill from here.


	8. Heartstealer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Juleka get akumatized.

Somehow they both slept, and the next morning, Adrien awoke to his alarm for breakfast. He and Lila had a day of fittings and other clothing choices and adjustments planned, finalizing their wardrobe for the shoot. They’d also get a tour of the city, with the locations carefully curated and times meticulously scheduled, all while being followed by cameras.

Kagami, on the other hand, overslept, making her mother rather upset with her. Watching from the shadows, Plagg sighed disappointedly. He wanted his kids to have better parents. After an abbreviated breakfast, she was on to her lessons. She only made it to lunch before there was an akuma attack.

“What is up with this school?” Kuroi Neko asked, landing beside Ladybug.

By way of explanation, Ladybug simply said, “Chloé Bourgeois.”

Adrien had talked about Chloé, and everyone knew about the mayor’s daughter, so Kuroi Neko nodded. “Makes sense. Who did she get akumatized this time?”

“Rose and Juleka.”

She recognized the names. “As Princess Fragrance and Reflekta?”

Ladybug shuddered. “Worse.”

She was about to ask more, but then two girls in red dresses emerged from the school, floating an inch above the ground. They were holding a torn heart-shape card between them. Kuroi Neko guessed that Chloé had something to do with that. “We are Heartstealer and we’re going to put all of the city under a spell to make people love us!”

Then they started firing the heart guns they were holding. Bursts of light in the shape of hearts hit the onlookers, turning them red with pink-tinted skin. “Go after the heroes!” Spellbound, the people who had been hit began advancing on the heroes, armed with heart guns of their own.

“Why?” Ladybug muttered. “We just dealt with one like this yesterday.”

Kuroi Neko had to agree. “Hawk Moth is serious this time. He really wants our miraculouses.” All this had started up since Adrien suddenly left town. She was glad, but also slightly suspicious.

“We’re going to need backup again,” Ladybug said.

“Viperion?” She looked down over the edge of the rooftop, then backed up to avoid getting hit.

She nodded. “But Rena Rouge is out, and Carapace, and King Monkey, and Pegasus. Chloé is responsible for all this, so I can’t turn to Queen Bee, plus there are two of them so Venom won’t be very helpful. Then there’s Ryuko, but I don’t know if I can drag Kagami away and give her back her miraculous again with her identity exposed.”

“It would put her at risk,” Kuroi Neko said, covering for that fact that she in fact was Kagami.

Throwing her yoyo, Ladybug said, “I’ll go get Viperion, and maybe I’ll let him keep his miraculous for a while this time.” She zipped off across the rooftops.

Until she got back, Kuroi Neko had to stay out of reach of Heartstealer. As the growing army of hearts began approaching her, she vaulted to another rooftop. Then another. They kept following her, their weapons capable of an incredible range. People were running into houses, trying to avoid getting hit, while those under Heartstealer’s magic broke in to turn the inhabitants of each house into part of the army.

Suddenly, a beam shot past her. She spun around to see Heartstealer up on the rooftop. “Come on, little kitty. Don’t you love me?”

“I don’t think I do.” She crossed her arms.

“But you will.”

Kuroi Neko dodged their beams with a backflip. Then a yoyo wrapped around her and pulled her out of the line of fire. She crashed into the rooftop where Ladybug was a little harder than she would have liked and looked up at Viperion and Ladybug. “Thanks.”

“Do we have a plan?”

“No, but the akuma is in that heart,” Ladybug said. Then she pulled them out of the way of another heart beam.

“We don’t have any time to waste, do we?”

“No.” There were heartstruck people closing in around the building they were on.

Viperion slid the snake on the bracelet. “Five minutes.”

“Lucky Charm!” A giant heart fell into her hands. “What do we do with this?”

“Give it to Heartstealer as a gift?” Viperion suggested.

Ladybug gave him a look despite being visibly nervous.

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” Kuroi Neko took the heart. “Hey, Heartstealer. Want this?” She waved it around, then ducked to avoid getting hit by a heart beam. She extended her baton and vaulted away.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Ladybug muttered. “At least we have you, Viperion.”

She glanced around nervously as Kuroi Neko crashed into the crowd. “Cataclysm!” A streetlight toppled over. Heartstealer dodged and hit the heart with another beam.

Ladybug swung across and pulled Kuroi Neko out of harm’s way. “We need a better plan.”

“Or we send me crashing into Heartstealer.”

“She’s surrounded herself. You’ll get hit.”

“Not if I slide down on the heart.”

“Viperion! Remember this!” Ladybug called out.

“Got it!”

Kuroi Neko held on tightly as Ladybug sent her into the crowd. She got struck with several beams at once.

Ladybug glanced at him, and Viperion used his Second Chance. “Five minutes.”

“Lucky Charm!” A giant heart fell into her hands. “What do we do with this?”

“You send Kuroi Neko sliding on it,” Viperion supplied. “She knocks into Heartstealer, and we win. She just has to avoid getting hit by beams.”

It took three tries before, with the aid of Ladybug’s yoyo, Kuroi Neko swung down, shielded by the Lucky Charm heart, and knocked down Heartstealer. The baton crashed into the heart, tearing it and sending the akuma into the air.

Quickly, Ladybug caught the butterfly in her yoyo and purified it, then tossed her Lucky Charm into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, we'll see what happens after the battle.


	9. Heartstealer, Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya interviews Kuroi Neko, Viperion gets to keep his miraculous, Gabriel and Nathalie talk

Juleka and Rose were staring at each other and their surroundings as the damage mended itself through magic.

“You two should take some time with each other,” Ladybug suggested.

“We will,” Juleka said, putting an arm around Rose.

Viperion landed beside them. “Ladybug, we’re almost out of time. We should be leaving.”

“Bye, you two!” Kuroi Neko called as Ladybug grabbed Viperion and took off.

When she spun around, she saw a girl recording her. “I’m Alya from the Ladyblog. Can I have a comment from the new Chat Noir? Who are you? What happened to the old Chat?”

“I’m Kuroi Neko. Chat Noir can’t fight this week, so I’m here until he returns. It’s an honor to defend Paris.”

“Did Ladybug choose you?” Alya leaned forward, pushing the phone closer to her face.

Pushing the phone back a little, Kuroi Neko replied, “No, Chat Noir did.”

Still determined, Alya asked, “Do you know who he is?”

“No,” she lied. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t put him at risk.”

Meanwhile, Ladybug dropped Viperion off in an alleyway, where he detransformed. She smiled. “Luka Couffaine, look after the miraculous and use it for good. I hope you join the next akuma fight.”

“I hope there isn’t one anytime soon,” Luka replied. “But I’ll be happy and honored to fight alongside you.”

Her miraculous gave a final beep. “I’ll be happy to fight alongside you too. Bye!” She hastily swung off and detransformed. “Oh, Tikki, I’m in really love with Luka.”

“What about Adrien?” Her kwami took the macaron Marinette gave her and watched worriedly.

“Him too, but with Luka, he’s in love with me, too. And I gave him a miraculous to keep.”

“Then see what happens,” Tikki said. “If it doesn’t work out, you’re still young.”

“But I’m Ladybug. I can’t run out on him when we’re together.”

“He’s Viperion. He’ll be doing the same thing,” Tikki reminded her.

Right. Why hadn’t Marinette thought of that? “Thanks, Tikki.” As Tikki flew into her purse, Marinette walked out of the alleyway to see her partner being confronted by Alya.

“Marinette, over here!” Alya waved at her. Marinette walked over. “Meet Kuroi Neko!”

“Hi, it’s nice to see you! We’ve never met before.”

Kuroi Neko looked at her strangely. She’d met Marinette before, and they were friends, but Marinette didn’t know she was Kagami. “No, we haven’t met.” After an awkward pause, she continued, “You’re Marinette. Everyone’s heard of you.”

“They have?” She laughed nervously. “Thanks. Well, I’m going back to class.” She almost tripped as she walked up the steps to the school.

“Alya, you should go back to class too,” Kuroi Neko said.

The reporter nodded. “But first, any message for Paris?”

Kuroi Neko looked directly into the camera. “Stay positive, Paris. I don’t want to fight another akuma this week.”

Alya turned the camera around. “You heard it on the Ladyblog. Stay positive, Paris.” She almost squealed as she stopped the recording. “I can’t wait to post this!”

Kuroi Neko didn’t want to know what Adrien thought.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Agreste was on the phone with Nathalie. “Why is there a new black cat just when Adrien left town?”

“I don’t know. Do you think he’s Chat Noir?” Nathalie asked.

“He could be, but then how would he always be sneaking out?”

Nathalie didn’t answer that question. “If Chat Noir reappears when Adrien returns, we’ll know.”

“Then I can take his miraculous.” Gabriel was starting to hope his son was Chat Noir.

“Won’t he be mad?”

“Everything will be okay when I bring back his mother.” He was determined to get his wife back, no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just tying some stuff up here


	10. Fashionista

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel Agreste gets someone akumatized, Ladybug and Viperion had a date, it's broken up by a battle.

Hawk Moth struck again later that night, hoping to make the heroes tired. This akuma was an intern Gabriel had fired earlier for spilling coffee all over the outfits she had been preparing for the next day’s photoshoot. Fashionista was insistent on turning people’s clothing into more fashionable items and putting them into a fashion show as her models. Each had a pin like the one Fashionista wore, that they would stick on someone else to turn them into a model. It would tire out the heroes even if it wasn’t that hard of an akuma to beat.

“I am going to track down Hawk Moth and strangle him with this yoyo!” Ladybug snapped as soon as she was within earshot of Kuroi Neko.

“That’s out of character, but I’ll help you,” Viperion said, appearing next to them. “Why are you so angry?”

“This is our third akuma in less than twenty-four hours, and Hawk Moth interrupted my date!”

Who was Ladybug on a date with on a Monday night? Kuroi Neko figured it had to be someone very special.

“I was on a date, too,” Viperion said. Casting a long glance at Ladybug, he said, “If anyone hurts her, I’ll get revenge.”

“I know,” Ladybug said softly, clearly remembering something special. As if catching her tone and recognizing it as something she should be hiding, she continued in a difference tone, “I know. Let’s defeat this akuma and get back to our dates, then.”

Ladybug barely waited for Viperion to activate his power before she swung down, landing on Fashionista’s runway. “This show is over!”

“Let’s put her in our show,” Fashionista said. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I’m thinking a ladybug spotted dress. No mask. No earrings.”

“What do you think for me?” Kuroi Neko leaned precariously over the edge of the awning on the building. She watched Ladybug fighting off the models trying to grab her.

“A cat fur coat,” Fashionista snarled.

“Not my style.” She vaulted down and crashed into Fashionista. Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Fashionista as Kuroi Neko used Cataclysm on her pin.

Ladybug pulled back her yoyo and… nothing. “What?” There was no butterfly fluttering out to be purified. “I was so sure.”

Someone stuck a pin into Kuroi Neko, and Fashionista cackled as her outfit transformed into a leopard-print suit with impossibly tall heels. Her mask turned ornate, more decorative than functional, with the ears built in. Her suit’s ears were now hairclips. She still had claws. The pin on her suit jacket was an elegant gold brooch in the shape of an F for Fashionista.

Fog filled Kuroi Neko’s mind. She was now a model. Sure, her feet hurt, but she looked gorgeous. And Ladybug didn’t like the fashion show. She lunged at Ladybug, who dodged, allowing Fashionista to escape.

“No! Viperion!”

“Are you looking for him?” Fashionista pointed to a man wearing a snakeskin mask and a matching snakeskin jacket with a dark blue shirt and black pants. He had gold Ouroboros bracelets stacked up his arms. Ladybug recognized him as Luka before it hit her that Viperion had been caught and turned into one of Fashionista’s models.

This was not going to end well. “Lucky Charm!” A hat fell into her hands. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Kuroi Neko swiped at her with the pin, and Ladybug used the hat to block the pin, which stuck itself into the fabric. “You’re coming with me.” Ladybug said, depositing her partner on a rooftop. Then she did the same for Viperion, letting his pin land in her hat, too. “You’re both out of harm’s way.”

She dropped the two pins, put the hat on her head, and swung across, yelling, “Fashionista. If you want me, you’ll have to get me yourself.”

“I will. Come back down here!”

Ladybug swung down abruptly and shoved her hat on Fashionista’s head, over her eyes. She quickly yanked Fashionista with her back to a rooftop and tied her up with the yoyo.

“What can the akumatized object be?” she asked herself, grabbing the belt and bracelet and breaking them. “No.”

And then her eyes fell on another pin that Fashionista was wearing, which she picked up, tossed to the ground, and crushed under her heel. A butterfly fluttered up from it, which she caught in her yoyo and purified. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”

She retrieved the hat and threw it into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She watched the damage mend itself. She’d done it, and she was proud of herself. Viperion and Kuroi Neko were coming to their senses across the street, their costumes returned to normal.

“What happened?” The girl picked up her pin with the Gabriel Agreste fashion logo on it.

“You were akumatized. It’s okay now.” She picked up the girl and swung her back down to the street.

“It’s not okay! Gabriel Agreste fired me,” the girl sobbed. “For spilling coffee.”

“That seems like something he would do,” Ladybug muttered, remembering everything else Gabriel Agreste had done.

Sniffling, the girl nodded, a slight smile creeping onto her face

“Well, you still have a good future ahead of you. You’ll succeed.” She patted the girl’s shoulder. “I can’t wait to see what you do with your life. Bye!”

“Thanks,” the girl said as Ladybug swung away.

She landed on the rooftop with Kuroi Neko and Viperion. “How are you two feeling?”

“Awful,” Kuroi Neko said.

Viperion continued, “You shouldn’t have to fight alone.”

“We won, and you can both help me next time.” Ladybug knew everyone’s timer was probably running out. “Now, I have a date to get back to, and I know Viperion does, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug is really mad, that's why she mentioned the date. And yes it was with Luka/Viperion. 
> 
> Viperion getting hit by akumas can be very bad. This isn't the worst that can happen.
> 
> Does someone know who Ladybug is on a date with? hmm...


	11. Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Adrigami chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you who may be sticking with me in this: thank you

Still feeling guilty, Kuroi Neko went home and detransformed. “I let Ladybug down, Plagg,” she said, curling up on her bed.

“You did not,” Plagg insisted. “Talk to Adrien. He’s felt that way before, too.”

Checking her phone, Kagami saw a few sporadic messages from Adrien, all complaining about Lila. According to this, she had done a lot of things, including arranging them getting ‘lost’ alone where she tried to kiss him. He’d called for Nathalie, who made sure to keep him in her sight for the rest of the time.

“I don’t like that girl,” she said.

“Trust me, neither do I,” Plagg replied. Feeling annoyed, he took a piece of cheese and began eating it.

Texting a supportive response to the Lila problem, Kagami asked, “Is that cheese going to last the two weeks?”

Finishing the wedge of cheese, Plagg confirmed her suspicions. “Not a chance.”

“I thought so.” Kagami checked her phone several times before Adrien responded. “He’s really happy that I’m safe and says Ladybug can take care of herself. He also says he’s thrilled that they only have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday left together.”

“That’s five days too many.”

“Agreed.”

Adrien had locked himself in his room and was watching the footage of the akuma attack. It was suspicious that there had been so many attacks while he was away, but it was probably a coincidence. “I hope this isn’t my fault for leaving Kagami in charge. Maybe Hawk Moth is trying to beat the less experienced black cat.”

There was no response, because he was alone. So he went back to texting Kagami: _do you think Hawk Moth is targeting you because you’re new?_

 _He’s going to find out soon he can’t beat me and Ladybug so easily._ Kagami sounded determined even in her text. He was glad he had chosen her.

“Hawk Moth should know by now that Ladybug is stronger than he’ll ever be.” He was talking to himself again, so he asked Kagami if he could call her.

Instead of a text message, his phone rang. Cheerfully, he answered the call. “Hey, Kagami.”

“Hello, Adrien.” Hearing her voice made him relax. Here was someone on his side. Here was a friend. “Plagg says he wants more cheese, and I don’t know how much I can buy without seeming suspicious.”

Adrien laughed. “I can’t help with the cheese. Other than that, how are you?”

“I still think I let Ladybug down by getting hit by Fashionista. If you’ve seen the video on the Ladyblog, or from Nadja Chamack, or anything, you’d know I got hit and Viperion got hit, and Ladybug had to stop us from hurting her and get us up on a rooftop before trying to take a dangerous villain down by herself.”

“Viperion getting hit surprised me. You were in the line of fire and had your guard down because you thought you got the akumatized object. The battle was going to be over. But where was Viperion? I fought alongside him once. He’s supposed to save us if we’re going to lose.”

“Fortunately, we didn’t need him.” She paused. Adrien was going to start talking again when she continued, “Why do you care about Viperion so much? He clearly got ambushed or something. He deserves the same forgiveness that you gave me.”

“Ladybug gave the Snake miraculous to Adrien first, and I failed. That’s how Viperion got it. I failed her. I wanted to look good in her eyes. Now Viperion does.”

“You did not fail her. You couldn’t be Chat Noir and Snake-Adrien at the same time. Besides, Viperion had a date, and I don’t think it was with Ladybug. Ladybug had a date too.”

While his heart had soared at the first part, it fell at the second. “She did?”

“I don’t think it was together, though. At least Viperion didn’t seem to think so. Ladybug just seemed mad. I felt a little left out, but I clearly couldn’t be on a date with you when you’re in Italy.”

His heart soared again. Maybe Ladybug wasn’t the only girl for him. “How would you like a date when I get back?”

There was a thud, a squeal, and a muffled “Plagg, why did you just yell ‘finally, no more lovesick pining over three girls’?” before Kagami picked up the phone and said, “Yes, I accept!”

“Great! I’ll start planning and surprise you when I return. This will make the remaining time with Lila more bearable, knowing I have a date with you to look forward to.” Adrien was thrilled. “Oh, and don’t give Plagg any camembert until tomorrow.”

“For the lovesick pining comment? That’s fine with me. Who were the three girls?”

“I wasn’t pining over three girls,” Adrien said. “Marinette’s just a friend.”

“Plagg just screamed in frustration, very loudly,” Kagami relayed to him. “Were the other two me and Ladybug?”

“Yes,” he admitted, because there was no point in denying it.

Lila started knocking on the door behind him. “Adrien, why are you hiding from me? Can I come in. I need help with my modeling skills.”

“Is that Lila?” Her hatred for the girl was clear in her voice. Adrien didn’t blame her.

“Yeah. Sorry, I need to hang up. Thanks for talking to me. I needed to hear a friend’s voice.”

“Bye, Adrien.”

“Bye.” He hung up. “Lila, if you want to practice modeling, we can find a more public place to talk.”

“We can! Thanks!”

Surprised that she was willing, he tried again. “But it’s late. We need to be well-rested. Wouldn’t it be better tomorrow morning?”

“Now is fine! Come out here or I’ll tell everyone how you refused to help a fellow model.”

“My father wouldn’t like that.” This was going to take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of Lila in here, hope you don't mind.


	12. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot about sleep here.

By this point, no one was surprised when there was another akuma the next day. What surprised them was that it struck at barely six in the morning.

Kuroi Neko was first on the scene, since she’d already been awake. The akuma she was dodging was called Insomnia, who could put people to sleep with a touch. As much as she wanted to sleep, Kuroi Neko thought this was a bit much.

“What’s going on?” Viperion asked, almost causing Kuroi Neko to get hit. He quickly corrected himself, “Get out of there first, then tell me.”

Kuroi Neko feinted to the right, then struck to the left, throwing Insomnia off balance. She vaulted to Viperion’s side, immediately saying, “I don’t know where the akumatized object is, but it might be the sleep mask.”

“That makes sense. Could it be anywhere else?” Viperion clearly remembered the previous akuma, where they’d gotten the wrong pin.

The two heroes took in the akuma, who seemed to have no other defining features beside the sleep mask and the night-sky pajamas over gray-violet skin. Insomnia didn’t even seem to have a nose or mouth, or ears for that matter. The sleep mask was magically suspended there. Maybe they’d been trying to sleep and failed, and the akuma had landed on the sleep mask over their eyes. They might not have even noticed until it was too late.

“Not a clue. I’d hope it’s not the pajamas.”

Viperion glanced around. “Where’s Ladybug?”

“She must still be asleep. It’s been a long day for her. Actually, more than twenty-four hours. I’m usually awake this early, or I wouldn’t be here either.”

“If Ladybug’s asleep, then we’re in trouble. We have to wait for her.”

Shaking her head, Kuroi Neko worked on coming up with a plan. “Can you find a container?” she asked.

“What? Why?” He looked around, eyes falling on a trash can. “Would a trash can work?”

“Perfect. We’re going to get the akuma and keep it in the trash can until Ladybug gets here!”

“Is this going to work?” Viperion asked.

“If it doesn’t, you have Second Chance.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

“Let’s get to work, then.” He activated his power and jumped down to grab the trash can, dumping out the few bags of trash onto the sidewalk. “What do you want me to do next?”

“Stay out of reach of Insomnia until I get his sleep mask.” She vaulted back to Insomnia, launching herself into a battle. Her superior fencing skills gave her an advantage, letting her knock them through a store window.

Without her needing to call for him, Viperion raced over, putting the trash can lid over Insomnia’s hands as they reappeared on the windowsill.

Insomnia raised their head into Kuroi Neko’s view, and she yelled, “Cataclysm!” She put her hand on the mask, and it disintegrated. An akuma flew up from it, and Viperion closed the trash can around the butterfly before it could escape.

A tired-looking man looked up. “I was just trying to put my six-month-old and two-year-old to sleep,” he sighed. “I had just put on my sleep mask again to get another hour’s sleep before I needed to get ready for work, and then they woke up again.”

Viperion made a sympathetic sound. “So glad I’m too young for that.”

“Agreed. Good work, Viperion.”

Then the man asked, “Where’s Ladybug?”

The two heroes only shrugged. “I wish I knew,” Kuroi Neko said.

“I’m going to transform back soon, so let’s run,” Viperion said. Pulling Kuroi Neko closer, he whispered, “Maybe your kwami knows.”

“Yeah. When I transform back, I’ll have him get Ladybug.” She grabbed the trash can. “Who can we have look after this?”

“Uh… What about Alya?” Viperion pointed at the reporter coming toward them. “She runs the Ladyblog, after all. She should know what to do.”

“Good idea. You’re about to run out of time, so maybe you should leave.” As Viperion raced off, Kuroi Neko called out, “Hey, Alya. I can’t stay, but can you help out a few heroes?”

“Yes!” Excited, she almost dropped her phone. “What do you need help with?”

“There’s an akuma in here.” She patted the trash can lid. “Just a little butterfly that needs to be purified by Ladybug, but she hasn’t shown up yet.”

“You want me to guard it?” Alya guessed. “I will!”

“Thanks. I’m going to find Ladybug now.” Kuroi Neko ran off.

Ducking into an alleyway, she detransformed and hid. “Hey, Plagg. I need you to find Ladybug so she can cast her miraculous cure and turn everything back to normal.”

“I can’t tell you where she is,” Plagg reminded her.

“No, but you can steer me in the right direction and then fly the rest of the way yourself.” Kagami realized she might need more incentive to get him to do it. “Then, I’ll give you a full wheel of cheese as a reward.”

Immediately, Plagg said, “Deal. But Ladybug doesn’t live too far from here. I can fly to her in less than five minutes.”

Not wasting any time, Plagg hurried off to find Marinette. He didn’t want to leave an akuma lying around. Quickly, he phased through her window and found Tikki. “Why is she asleep?” Plagg asked.

“Plagg! What are you doing here?” Tikki whispered.

“I wanted to see you, sugar cube.” At Tikki’s look, he explained, “We have an akuma in a trash can that needs purifying.”

“There was an akuma attack?” Tikki drooped a little at the news. “I don’t know if Marinette can keep this up. She’s so tired from all of this, plus school.”

“Hawk Moth clearly is doing this on purpose. Do you think maybe that’s why he sent Adrien away, to protect him?”

“Are you saying Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste?”

“It’s a possibility. Marinette pulled a trick with Multimouse to convince Adrien she couldn’t be Ladybug. What if Hawk Moth did something like that?”

Across the room, Marinette stirred. Plagg dove behind the nearest object, hiding. “They left the trash can with Alya. Tell Marinette to transform, go there, and purify the akuma.”

Tikki nodded, and Plagg quickly flew out of the room. As soon as he was out of sight, Tikki flew over to Marinette and tried to wake her up fully.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You need to transform and purify an akuma,” Tikki replied.

Marinette sat up. “What? There was an akuma?”

The kwami explained, “Viperion and Kuroi Neko caught it in a trash can and left it with Alya.”

“What? I have to get down there!” Climbing out of bed, Marinette snuck out and transformed into Ladybug.

Tiredly, she swung down to where Alya had posted she was waiting with the trash can. “Thank you, Alya, for helping me again.” She wanted to use the opportunity to take a jab at Lila, but she refrained. She already hadn’t given Alya the fox miraculous for a while as Lila pulled the reporter further into her orbit.

“I’m always happy to,” she replied. Then the smile fell a little from her face. “Why did you choose to make Viperion a permanent part of the team?”

“I trust him. He listens to me, believes me, and trusts me.” There. She had said something.

The smile crumbled from Alya’s face completely as she lifted the lid of the trash can. Before she could defend Lila and herself, Ladybug purified the akuma. Then she summoned her lucky charm, tossed it in the air, and cast her miraculous cure.

“Try to do better and look for the truth, okay?” She was about to swing off when she saw another akuma a little too late. It landed on the trash can lid, still in Alya’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's see what happens with Alya here.


	13. Trust Seeker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya gets akumatized

Before her eyes, Alya transformed, taking on a streamlined orange and white form reminiscent of Rena Rouge and Volpina. The trash can lid was now a shield. She yelled, “I am Trust Seeker and I demand your trust!”

She threw the shield, and Ladybug dodged. The shield bounced off a wall and ricocheted, hitting someone walking by. They turned. “I trust you. What do you want me to do?”

Having already used her lucky charm, Ladybug needed to get away, detransform, feed Tikki, and transform back. She needed Kuroi Neko and Viperion. She liked Viperion a lot. “Alya, please don’t do this.”

“I’m Trust Seeker, not Alya. You don’t trust Alya.” Trust Seeker seemed very upset about that, and Ladybug was regretting her earlier comments. Hawk Moth must be enjoying this.

“I do trust Alya, but she needs to trust me and her friends.” She swung behind a building and quietly said, “Tikki, spots off.” She pulled a cookie out of her purse and fed her kwami. “Hurry up, I need to get back to the fight.

Then the shield flew by. Tikki hid right before Trust Seeker bent the corner. “You don’t trust me about Lila. I’ll make you trust us.”

Marinette thought this was it as the akuma threw her shield until a baton knocked it away. A tired-looking Kuroi Neko fiercely engaged Trust Seeker, forcing her to grab her shield from the ground and use it for defense. Not taking her eyes of the fight, Kuroi Neko addressed her friend, “Get to safety. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I understand.” Marinette turned and ran, looking for a new place to transform.

Instead, she found Viperion. “Marinette,” he said, startled. “I didn’t expect you to be awake so early.”

“It doesn’t matter. Trust Seeker tried to attack me. I have to hide!” It was one of her more convincing lies. It helped that she knew Viperion was Luka, who she’d been out on a date with last night.

“I’ll help distract the akuma while you hide, okay?” Viperion watched Marinette run around a corner before joining Kuroi Neko. “Long time no see,” he said wryly.

“I can’t believe there is another akuma after we just took care of the last one.” Kuroi Neko dodged as Trust Seeker tried to attack her. “This one seems angry.”

“Don’t they all?”

Kuroi Neko turned around to glare at him, and Viperion saw Trust Seeker’s shield on a collision course with her head. Then Kuroi Neko rolled out of the way, simultaneously swiping at the akuma’s legs.

“The akuma is in her shield!” Ladybug called, running down the street from the opposite direction. 

Trust Seeker turned, losing interest in Kuroi Neko momentarily, allowing her to scramble away. “Ladybug! I can’t believe you ran away before! Don’t you trust me?”

“Not like this,” Ladybug replied.

Trusts Seeker threw the shield. Ladybug spun her yoyo, letting the shield bounce off it and in another direction. Kuroi Neko prepared to Cataclysm it before Ladybug pulled her out of the way as Trust Seeker raised a hand and the shield flew back to her.

“That was close,” Kuroi Neko remarked. Ladybug nodded in agreement.

Undeterred, Trust Seeker said, “I’ll make you both trust me.” 

“You won’t.” Not wasting any more time, Ladybug yelled, “Lucky Charm!” A roll of duct tape fell into her hands.

“What are you going to do with that?” Kuroi Neko asked.

“Stop Trust Seeker from retrieving her shield. I just need to figure out how.” Spinning her yoyo, she knocked the shield away again. Trust Seeker called it back, spun around, and hit Viperion with it before he could dodge.

“Put us in a time loop, will you? And stop them every time they get close to beating me.”

Fully trusting Trust Seeker, he activated his power.

Ladybug turned the duct tape over in her hands. “Change of plans, we tie him up first.”

“I’ll hold off Trust Seeker.” Kuroi Neko quickly engaged her in fighting again.

Ladybug fixed the roll of duct tape to her yoyo and made sure part of the sticky side was extended. She threw the yoyo at Viperion and used it to wrap tape around his arms. Then she raced over to him and put pieces of duct tape over his mouth and miraculous. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as he struggled, glaring at her. She wondered if he’d remember this. He probably would.

Taking the rest of the duct tape, she swung over to a rooftop and put some loops of tape on the edge. All she had to do was knock the shield onto it.

Kuroi Neko was still fighting diligently against Trust Seeker. Ladybug leaned over the edge of the rooftop and called, “Catch me if you can!”

In her anger, Trust Seeker fell for it, throwing the shield at her. Ladybug dropped to the ground, quickly flicking her wrist to pull Kuroi Neko to her with the yoyo as she dodged. The shield hit the tape, sticking long enough for Kuroi Neko to use her Cataclysm on it. Ladybug purified the butterfly, tossed the roll of duct tape into the air, and shouted “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Ladybug glanced from her stunned friend Alya to Viperion, seeing the exact moment that Trust Seeker’s influence disappeared. As she raced to Alya, she said distractedly, “Tell Viperion I’ll talk to him later. I have to say something to Alya.” 

Alya had sunk to the ground, not meeting Ladybug’s eyes as she approached. “I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have been so harsh,” Ladybug apologized. She gave Alya a hug. “It’s early and you have school soon. We should both be on our separate ways.”

“Bye, Ladybug.” She ran off.

“Why did you apologize?” Kuroi Neko asked. She and Viperion hadn’t left.

“To keep her happy.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Viperion added. “What you think matters too.”

“I’m not supposed to cause akumas.” Ladybug sighed. “How are you feeling, Viperion?”

“Regretful about being hit, but other than that, fine. Everything is blurry besides the intense feelings of trust and hatred, which are a bad memory.” Viperion sighed.

“You don’t mind that I had to duct tape you?”

“You had to.” He patted her shoulder. “You do what you must, and I admire that. Now let’s split up and rest.”

“Thanks, Viperion.” Ladybug blushed and tried not to say anything to give away their identities to Kuroi Neko or her identity to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug really cares about Viperion


	14. Hurricane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Lila watch the news of a battle.

“Don’t be bemused. It’s just the news.” Adrien and Lila looked at each other and back at Nadja Chamack on the screen. “For our midday update, we will start with Hawk Moth. There were two akuma attacks this morning following two on Monday and one the night before. This recent slew of attacks begs the question: are our heroes ready for the seemingly imminent final showdown? Can Paris survive, or will Hawk Moth win? Who is Kuroi Neko, and why did Ladybug choose her? Can she measure up to Chat Noir?”

“Adrien, aren’t you glad we’re in Italy together and out of harm’s way?” Lila draped herself on his arm as he tried to eat his meager lunch, a salad that didn’t even have any dressing. He was in a place full of wonderful food, and he didn’t get to try any of it.

“I don’t know.” He took a bite of salad. “I’d rather be back in Paris with my friends.”

“Your friends are all bad influences, except me.” She nearly fell as he scooted his chair away from her. “Hey!”

“Lila, be nice,” Adrien said, taking another bite and chewing it slowly. He was worried about Kagami. Capable as she might be, he hadn’t intended for her to be fighting so many powerful akumas with so much less experience. Then there was Ladybug, who must have been run ragged by now. She hadn’t even shown up to the first akuma fight this morning. It was lucky but telling that she’d given Luka his miraculous to keep.

Before Lila could reply, the television on the wall flashed with a message of breaking news. It switched to show an angry person in blue, with blue hair, standing on a wave in the middle of the river. “There’s another akuma?”

“He’s going to defeat them this time, for sure.” Lila was smiling, a cunning look in her eyes.

As a wave crashed into Ladybug, knocking her to the ground, Adrien winced. He found it hard to disagree with Lila. Still, he said, “I know Ladybug won’t fail.”

Onscreen, Kuroi Neko was using her baton to keep herself from getting swept away. Viperion was undoubtedly out of harm’s way. Back on her feet, Ladybug was dodging the waves while holding her Lucky Charm, a paddle, in one hand.

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck, narrowly missing Ladybug, who staggered away and fell into the water. Feeling anxious and helpless, Adrien abandoned the remnants of his tasteless salad and abruptly stood up. “I’m not watching any more of this.”

“I agree. It’s too distressing.” Lila’s words were obviously fake as she wrapped an arm around Adrien, who couldn’t find the strength to push her away.

A few minutes later, Lila checked her phone and yelled, “No!” She almost threw it before storming off.

Adrien checked his phone to find that Ladybug and her team had, in fact, defeated the akuma called Hurricane.

Ladybug had used a raft and the paddle to get closer to the akuma, distracting it long enough for Kuroi Neko to vault in and cataclysm the akumatized object. Ladybug did her thing, but Adrien’s eyes were on Viperion, who looked deeply relieved and mouthed a few words. It took a few tries to catch what he said: twenty-five times. Viperion had seen them fail twenty-four times before they got it right. Adrien had seen them fail thousands of times as Aspik, but he still felt unsettled. He had the ultimate faith in his partner, but the heroes could only do so much against Hawk Moth at this rate.

One of these times, they weren’t going to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can our heroes keep winning? Will Lila get her way?


	15. Metal Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another akuma, another step closer to their breaking point...

After two more akuma battles, it was finally Wednesday. One had been around nine at night, the other around two in the morning. Having been up fighting so late, Marinette was asleep in class until Alya prodded her awake. “Hey, it’s lunch time. Can we talk?”

“I was designing last night. That’s why I’m asleep.” The lie came almost too naturally to her, but she was so tired she didn’t care.

“That’s not what it’s about.” Alya took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for not believing you about Lila, after everything she did to you. I’ve been an awful friend and I started looking into her lies and I’m not done yet but there’s no way everything she said could be true.”

That woke Marinette up. “What?”

“Ladybug opened my eyes to a lot yesterday. I realized that I stopped believing the people who matter to me when I started believing Lila so much. I don’t know if everything she said is a lie, and there’s no way she’s all bad, but I’ve known you for so much longer.”

Marinette smiled. Kuroi Neko and Viperion had been right. She hugged Alya. “Thank you.”

Over Marinette’s shoulder, Alya glanced out the window and saw a giant mechanical-looking monster. “Uh, what’s that?” She turned her friend around to look at it.

“Uh… I think I should be running. Hiding!” Marinette spun around and took off.

“Calm down,” Chloé said. “File out in a neat line.”

That slowed the people behind her down, giving her time to hide and transform. Ladybug jumped out of the school and took off for the giant metal creature that had just crushed another building.

“There has got to be an easier way to do this,” she muttered as she dodged a giant metal fist. The metal ladder on the side of the building warped, tearing free and flying to the creature. Before Ladybug’s eyes, the creature grew bigger. “What are you?”

“I’m Metal Man!” He absorbed another piece of metal and grew even bigger. At the same time, Ladybug realized two things: one, she had to get him away from any metal things, and two, he was making a beeline for the Eiffel Tower.

“Over here, tin can!” Ladybug shouted, turning to lead him away from the Eiffel Tower. It didn’t work.

“Need any help?” Viperion was on the street below. Ladybug landed next to him.

“That thing keeps absorbing metal and growing bigger. I don’t know where the akumatized object is. I don’t want to get caught or crushed. That would be painful, even if you bring me back.” She shuddered.

Viperion patted her shoulder. “I won’t let that happen.”

“Good. Lucky Charm!” She caught a length of rope in her hands. “You and Kuroi Neko have to distract Metal Man, and I have to figure out how to trip him.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Kuroi Neko said.

It was harder than she thought. Kuroi Neko reflected on this as she was thrown several blocks across Paris, only stopping herself with her baton. The impact still jarred her, and she slid to the ground with a pained moan. A familiar spotted red yoyo looped around a nearby streetlamp, bending it as Ladybug slowed herself down and threw herself back into the fight.

She was pretty sure she caught Viperion praying, or at least clasping his hands together in worry, and wondered how many times they’d failed.

Ladybug dodged Metal Man’s fists, looping the rope first around one wrist, then the other, and pulling them behind his back. She dropped down and wrapped it around his legs next, then swung out of the way as the metal giant toppled.

“Cataclysm!” Rushing over, Kuroi Neko put her hand on the akumatized object and watched it crumble.

Ladybug purified the little akuma and watched it fly away. Then she sank to her knees. “I can’t do this forever. What kind of hero does that make me?”

“A human one,” Viperion said.

Ladybug buried her head in her hands. “I’m supposed to be a superhero!”

Feeling like she should say something, Kuroi Neko replied, “And you are. But this is crazy.”

“Hawk Moth is trying to get us to give up, and we can’t let him. But you need to sleep, Ladybug.” He sighed. “Between attacks, at least.”

“I have school. It was pure luck this happened during lunch.”

Viperion laughed. “Ladybug luck. Take a power nap.”

“I did, during class.” She shook her head. “My grades are going to suffer more than they usually do.”

“Oh.” Viperion hugged her. “If you ever need a break, Kuroi Neko and I can capture the akuma and hold it until you can purify it.”

While it bothered her slightly that Viperion had spoken for her, Kuroi Neko agreed with him. “We would be glad to.”

“Thanks, guys. Well, I have to run, so bye!” Ladybug swung off.

“I do too,” Viperion said, leaving in a different direction.

“Bye,” Kuroi Neko told the space where they had been, sneaking into a place to detransform. “Plagg, we really need a better plan.”

“Besides finding Hawk Moth, I don’t have any ideas right now,” Plagg admitted. “I might with a piece of camembert, but no promises.”

“That’s a great idea! We need to lure Hawk Moth into the open.” She pulled out two pieces of camembert for her kwami, and Plagg lunged for them.

“I’ll help you figure that out later.” He took a bite out of the cheese. “This is good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Kagami have a plan?


	16. Malice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sleepy Ladybug

Hiding from a flaming akuma at two in the morning on Thursday, Viperion assumed he was the only one awake until Ladybug showed up, staggering and looking miserable. Kuroi Neko arrived less than a minute later with no explanation.

“I thought we agreed you were taking a break,” Viperion said.

“I happened to be awake.” Her defensive comment was followed up by a loud yawn.

Doubting this, Kuroi Neko asked, “Really?”

“I never said I wanted to be awake,” she explained. “I had homework to make up.”

This seemed more plausible. Still, Kuroi Neko said, “We should hurry up and defeat the akuma, for all our sakes.”

“Definitely.” Viperion was feeling tired, even if he tried not to let it show.

Almost falling from her perch, Ladybug woke up with a start as a building in front of her erupted into flames. “I’m awake.”

“Yes, you are.” Viperion glanced at Kuroi Neko, who shook her head. “Stay here.”

“No, I need to fight. Lucky Cha- aw ugh.” She broke off into a yawn before trying again. “Lucky Charm!” A blanket fell into her hands, and she wrapped it around herself.

“You need to sleep,” Viperion told her, tenderly fixing the blanket around her shoulders. “Stay here,” he insisted. This time, she just nodded in agreement and settled in on the ledge.

“Let’s take care of the akuma,” Kuroi Neko said, jumping a few buildings over, then up and into view of the angry creature on fire coming their way.

With a final glance at Ladybug, Viperion followed her. He activated his power, just in case they needed it. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Hey, fire boy!” Kuroi Neko called in her most incendiary voice.

Roaring, the akuma retorted, “My name is Malice!”

Spinning her baton, Kuroi Neko fielded fireballs until one caught Viperion. Her eyes widened. “Oh no.”

Fire in his eyes, Viperion turned as if entranced and started fighting her. With every blow he tried to land, he yelled some variation of “I hate you!” or “I hate everyone!”

Dodging fireballs from Malice, Kuroi Neko fended off Viperion. She jumped off the edge of a building and took off running. Viperion followed, overtaking her. Flames flared up around him, and then Malice was there, and Viperion was where Malice had been. So this was how Chat Noir had felt when she was Oni-Chan.

Kuroi Neko did the first thing she thought of: she fled. Rounding a corner, she hid, waiting for Malice and Viperion to pass by before she made a break for the sound asleep Ladybug. She grabbed the blanket and took off again.

Clearing her throat, Kuroi Neko shouted, “If you want me, Hawk Moth, come and get me.” She held out the blanket like a target for fireballs before dodging, making her way to a billboard. Then she secured the blanket and took off running, using the shadows to her advantage. Malice landed on the billboard, burning the blanket.

“Cataclysm!”

The billboard toppled, giving Malice no time to switch places with Viperion. After snatching a piece of the blanket, she grabbed the only defined object his fiery form had: an obsidian staff. As quickly as she could, she ran away with it, found the nearest trash can, and broke the staff inside of it before sealing the butterfly inside.

She dragged the can back to where Ladybug was sound asleep and out of the way. “Ladybug!” she yelled, startling the heroine awake.

Ladybug rolled off her perch, stopping her fall with her yoyo. Then she dropped to the ground and opened the can, swung her yoyo, and purified the akuma. Then she tossed the blanket up in the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

“Good work!” Kuroi Neko said.

Ladybug held her hand out for a fist bump, while Kuroi Neko held hers out for a handshake. Picking up on this quickly, Ladybug shook Kuroi Neko’s hand, laughing slightly. Kuroi Neko smiled back.

“You’re a good partner,” Ladybug told her with a yawn, starting to walk away.

In a tone that immediately stopped her, Kuroi Neko replied, “We’re only going to be partners for… about three more days?”

“I’m thinking about that,” Ladybug said cryptically. “Well, bye!” She swung off and almost hit the side of a building.

Kuroi Neko flinched and then started smiling. What did that mean? Might she get to keep a miraculous? Not the black cat, of course, but maybe…

“Why are you so happy?” Viperion asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, I’m not entirely sure yet,” Kuroi Neko replied somewhat distantly, not taking her eyes off Ladybug’s receding form until she swung out of sight.

Viperion accepted this with just an “okay” as his miraculous beeped. “I’ll be leaving now, I guess.”

“Yeah, you must be almost out of time.” She started walking in one direction, a fuzzy tiredness forming in her head as the adrenaline wore off. “I hope I don’t see you soon, because that would mean there’s another akuma.”

Behind her, she heard laughter. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She found an empty place to detransform, and then Kagami walked away in a different direction with Plagg eating camembert in her pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've looked at the tags you know what happens. If not, just wait and see.
> 
> Also Malice probably should have been Mal-fire, eh?


	17. Hawk Moth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A battle with Hawk Moth

Marinette wasn’t in class, and Alya couldn’t reach her. No, she was at home, fast asleep, and Tikki wasn’t even trying to wake her up. She was watching Alya try to text Marinette and snacking on a cookie. If there was anything important, the kwami would wake Marinette up.

A link to a livestream from the Ladyblog had Tikki shaking Marinette awake. “Kuroi Neko is on the Eiffel Tower yelling at Hawk Moth to come face her.”

“What?” Marinette shook off her sleepiness at the words. “Who came up with this plan?”

Hovering in front of Marinette, Tikki answered, “My guess is Plagg.”

“Of course. Time to transform.” She climbed out of bed. “Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug swung over to the Eiffel Tower in close to record time. “What are you doing?”

“Luring Hawk Moth into the open,” Kuroi Neko said matter-of-factly.

“What makes you think this will work?” Ladybug asked.

Twirling her baton, Kuroi Neko pointed at a familiar approaching figure. “That.”

“That’s Hawk Moth.” Ladybug looked at Kuroi Neko in awe. “Thank Plagg for me.”

Kuroi Neko looked at her. “How did you…”

“Tikki, my kwami,” Ladybug explained.

“Ah.” Kuroi Neko nodded. “Well, are you ready to fight?”

“Fighting Hawk Moth? Always.” Ladybug spun her yoyo, looking the most awake that she had in days. “Come and get us, Hawk Moth!”

“I will.” Hawk Moth jumped up to them, wielding his sword-cane. “I’ll get your miraculous myself.”

Kuroi Neko took to fending off his weapon. This wasn’t like a staff. This had a point. This could hurt her. A black butterfly floated up behind Kuroi Neko, and Ladybug tried to purify it. The sword almost sliced her shoulder as she backflipped out of the way. The butterfly escaped her reach, heading back toward Kuroi Neko.

“Watch out!” Ladybug yelled, pointing downward. Kuroi Neko dodged the akuma and jumped off the edge of the Eiffel Tower, letting herself fall before extending her baton to stop herself.

At the same time, Ladybug swung upward. Hawk Moth looked from one to the other before settling on following Ladybug. Then the butterfly landed on Hawk Moth’s sword, and the two heroes watched in horror as metallic silver wings sprouted from his back. His costume turned silver and white to match the wings and mask. He held out his hands, and an akuma shimmered into being. And another one. Soon, an army of butterflies were fanning out over the city.

Ladybug dodged akumas while trying to purify them. She got a few of them before Hawk Moth appeared in front of her. She began fighting him, trying to get to his sword away from him. And his miraculous, too.

Then she saw Kuroi Neko appear behind him and sighed with relief, wrapping her yoyo around a beam and holding on tight as she jumped off the edge.

Kuroi Neko swept her baton under Hawk Moth’s legs, only for him to take off on his wings, unwrapping Ladybug’s yoyo from the tower beam as he flew off. “Do you think you can beat me that easily?”

Ladybug narrowly managed to wrap her yoyo around something else, then tumbled to the ground. “We need Viperion,” she muttered to herself.

“You need me?” There he was, almost too good to be true. There was a warm smile on his face.

Hope clear on her face, Ladybug nodded. “Yes.”

“Too bad.” He swiped two fingers down his arm and was promptly hit across the chest with an extended baton. The beam went wide as Viperion skidded across the ground. An akuma floated into the air, quickly purified by Ladybug.

Dropping out of the sky, Kuroi Neko helped Viperion to his feet. “You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t hurt you all, right?” Viperion asked. “I mean, I know I didn’t, but did I?”

“You didn’t, and now you can help us,” Ladybug said. “But we shouldn’t use our powers yet because this fight could go on for a while.”

Looking around, Viperion asked, “So, where’s Hawk Moth?”

“He took off to create his own akuma army. It should be here any minute now.” Ladybug said. “You can hold them off, right?” Without waiting another second, she took off.

“Yeah, we can,” Kuroi Neko told the empty space where Ladybug had been. She started spinning her baton as the first few akumas rounded the corner.

“Are you ready?” Viperion asked.

She raced forward to meet them. “I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two next time!


	18. Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the battle, featuring Alya as Rena Rouge

Ladybug returned to the battlefield to find Kuroi Neko fending off several akumas who were fighting each other more than her. Viperion was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with two villains, ducking to let them hit each other before he knocked them out with his lyre.

Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around one akuma trying to attack Kuroi Neko from behind and swung him in Rena Rouge’s direction. Alya had been the only miraculous holder she could find, besides Chloé. And she had other plans for the Bee now. Alya had been thrilled that Ladybug had changed her mind about giving her the fox miraculous and promised to make Ladybug proud.

Rena Rouge launched herself into the fray with an energy and enthusiasm the others lacked, bouncing between Ladybug, Viperion, and Kuroi Neko to help them while dueling with others on their own.

Yet slowly, the four were forced back to back, fighting in a tight formation. It was then that Hawk Moth drifted down in front of Ladybug and Kuroi Neko. He smiled menacingly. “Give up your miraculous and I’ll spare your friends.”

“I don’t think so,” Ladybug said, kicking out at one of the akumas. A hand wrapped around her leg, only to be pushed away by Kuroi Neko’s baton.

“We’re not going to surrender,” Rena Rouge called as she disarmed another opponent. “No matter what!”

Without warning, Ladybug flicked her wrist, her yoyo wrapping around Hawk Moth’s sword-cane. While she tried to tug on it, he pulled back, sending her flying. She let go of her yoyo and tumbled across the ground.

“Thanks for the lift!” She ran at Hawk Moth, grabbing her yoyo back and beginning to fight. He tried to fly, and she used her yoyo to swing after him, hitting his wings to get him to fall. As he landed, she tied him up with her yoyo and took the sword-cane. She broke it over her knee before purifying the akuma. Finally, she reached out, triumph and satisfaction pulsing through her. This was what she had been waiting for, what made it all worth it. She pulled his miraculous from his costume.

Nothing happened.

Hawk Moth laughed as realization dawned on Ladybug. “Did you think I’d really walk into an obvious trap? No, this was all a ruse to distract you and sap your energy. It worked.”

And then he disappeared.

“This is impossible,” Ladybug said, the strength and fight leaving her. “We were so close.”

She felt like she was underwater as she distantly went through the motions of setting things right. Everything was a blur as the world returned to normal around her. Her work done, she sank to the ground.

Her team surrounded her supportively, pulling her back to her feet and hugging her. In unison, their three voices told her reassuringly, “It’s okay.”

“It was my idea. I’m sorry,” Kuroi Neko added after a long pause.

“We all did our best,” Rena Rouge added, “Especially you. Should I give you back my miraculous?”

Ladybug nodded, and Rena Rouge guided her out of the view of the others before she transformed back and handed over her miraculous. “Listen, girl,” Alya told her. “If Hawk Moth is doing this much, you’re getting really close to defeating him.”

“Do you think so?” Ladybug said hopefully.

Alya nodded. “But right now you need time alone to think about it. Go ahead, leave.”

After that, Ladybug said goodbye to Alya and swung away.

Kuroi Neko looked at Viperion, who quietly told her, “She just needs some time to be alone.”

“I might need that too,” she admitted in return. “Bye.” She took off running.

All alone with those who had been akumatized, Viperion took a final look around and walked away slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To explain: They were fighting a sentimonster. Hawk Moth made a sentimonster with the peacock miraculous.


	19. Friday Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yet another Adrigami chat, some possible foreshadowing, and an akuma

After their failed attempt to lure Hawk Moth into the open, the akuma attacks didn’t cease, and as the sun rose on Friday, Adrien and Kagami were on the phone with each other. Adrien had woken up early to talk to her. Kagami hadn’t gone to sleep, a fact which she purposefully hadn’t mentioned to Adrien.

“You’re going to be back Sunday morning, right?” Kagami mumbled through a yawn. “Please say yes.”

“I’ll be back by noon on Sunday, I promise.” Adrien hoped this was the case and that his father wouldn’t say it was too dangerous. “I don’t like locking myself in my room just to avoid having Lila attached to me like a leech.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back. It wasn’t nice to call anyone a leech, even if it was true.

Kagami hated the mental image of that. Well, she hated Lila in general, but this was a fitting yet awful description of how she treated Adrien. “Has she been doing that more now?”

“At every chance she gets. The shoot photographer had to pry her off my arm for one of the pictures.” He shuddered at the memory from less than twenty-four hours ago.

Cringing, Kagami only managed to make a few disgruntled, upset noises. “That’s awful.”

“I’m used to something like that from the other models, but Lila is around me all day and she does so much more than them,” Adrien admitted. “Maybe I shouldn’t have dismissed how cunning and threatening she is. She’ll do anything.”

“She gets akumatized. She gets others akumatized, like me. I don’t know what she can’t do.” Kagami stared at the wall. “If she gets akumatized when she returns, all of Paris is doomed.”

Adrien wasn’t too surprised at that, but Kagami’s grave tone of voice startled him. “Because she’s dangerous?”

“Because you’ll be the only hero who gets more than two hours of sleep at a time,” she replied, completely serious. She yawned again.

“I heard about the akumas at all hours, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” Adrien felt even more guilty and concerned now.

“We all still have lives between fighting akumas. And we’re so tired all the time. How did you and Ladybug do it for so long?”

He didn’t know. He stayed silent until he thought of something to say. “There were fewer akumas, I guess. And we learned from each fight, got better at it, and sacrificed our personal lives.”

“You know I can’t do that. Ladybug and Viperion probably can’t do that too much either.” She paused, then added more quietly, “Truth is, I haven’t slept yet.”

Alarmed, Adrien asked, “Why? Why are you talking to me then?”

“I had practice to make up for after we defeated Malice. Then you texted me,” Kagami explained. She looked out the window to the rising sun, casting a glowing light across the buildings.

Adrien sighed. “Go to sleep.”

The glowing light coalesced into a humanoid form. “Uh…”

“What?” Adrien leaned forward as if that could get him an answer sooner.

“I can’t sleep. There’s another akuma. Bye!” She hung up. A moment later, his phone buzzed with a picture of the akuma outside her window.

So that was what that was about. He hoped she could catch up on some sleep later. But with his free time, he could brainstorm how to talk to Lila upon their return to Paris. How to get rid of her, once he wasn’t stuck with her.

He checked on the local news to find out about the akuma, watching as the heroes staggered exhaustedly around as they fought. The akuma would turn into a flare of light, travelling almost instantaneously out of range. Ladybug summoned her Lucky Charm, a helmet, and put it on, since there was little else to do with it. She swung her yoyo, only for it to go straight through the akuma. Then the akuma grabbed it and pulled her forward. Glowing hands wrapped around her neck and reached to unbuckle her helmet. Kuroi Neko’s baton landed on the akuma’s now-solid arm, breaking the sun-charm bracelet and freeing the akuma for Ladybug to purify. The battle was one of the most straightforward of the week. A large umbrella that Kuroi Neko had grabbed from a patio was enough to shield them from attacks.

He didn’t get another call from Kagami, but he knew it wasn’t because she was asleep. More likely, she was busy, and she wouldn’t be getting any sleep any time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone needs some sleep, but they're not going to get it.


	20. Hachi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroi Neko gets the bee miraculous. Plagg and Ladybug talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos, comments, and support!

After fighting the akuma that morning, Ladybug had told Kuroi Neko to meet her in the park at lunchtime, if there were no akumas. There was little explanation for it, but she believed Ladybug and was curious about the surprise.

A little before lunch time, there was in fact an akuma. After defeating it, though, Ladybug told her to feed Plagg and then transform again and meet her at the park.

So she was hiding in the park, a little confused, waiting for Ladybug to arrive. She’d been there for about five minutes and was about to leave when Ladybug swung down and looked around. There was a bag hanging in the hand that wasn’t holding the yoyo. Kuroi Neko stepped into sight and waved.

“There you are!” She led Kuroi Neko to a private spot in the park. “Sorry I’m late. I had to go grab something after the battle.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a familiar-looking box. “Want a pastry?”

“You invited me here for a pastry?” She stared at the box in Ladybug’s hands, recognizing it as being from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. “Oh, those are good. I’ll take one.”

Ladybug opened the box and held it out for her partner to take a macaron or two. “They’re all dark chocolate with espresso filling.”

Kuroi Neko felt the life return to her a little as she bit into one. “That is… mmm.” She closed her eyes and savored the flavor. “Perfect.” She took another.

“And now, for the real reason I brought you here today.” She reached into the bag again.

“Besides the delicious macarons? Those were reason enough. I’ll stop by the bakery for two dozen of those to get me through until Sunday.” She was exaggerating, of course. She’d only take a dozen. And a few cups of coffee or tea.

Ladybug smiled, feeling pleased. Unbeknownst to her partner, she’d helped make them as Marinette. It had meant she couldn’t sleep, but the resulting caffeine and two additional cups of coffee took care of that problem. At this point, someone could probably guess their identities from the sudden increase in caffeine consumption this week.

She pulled out a small box and handed it to Kuroi Neko, who opened it and stared at the yellow and black kwami in front of her. “The… bee miraculous?”

“I’m Pollen, at your service. Ladybug says you can keep me.” The kwami floated in front of her as she cradled the comb.

“For after you give Chat back his miraculous,” Ladybug explained. “I still want you on the team.”

Kuroi Neko put the comb in her hair as she looked at Ladybug gratefully. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to go test it out?” Ladybug asked. When she nodded, Ladybug turned around. “Tell me when you’ve transformed.”

Kuroi Neko ducked behind a tree and listened to Pollen’s instructions. She quickly transformed back into Kagami. As soon as he was free, Plagg looked at Pollen. “Take care of Kagami,” he said.

Pollen smiled at him. “I promise.” She turned to Kagami. “Shall we?”

“Pollen, buzz on!” Kagami transformed in a burst of yellow light. Opening her spinning top to use as a mirror, she took in her costume, black with a thick yellow v on her chest like the top of a bodice, then yellow v-shaped stripes down her abdomen that got thinner until they faded away. She had a yellow headband to contrast with her black hair.

Then she stepped back out to see Ladybug still had her back to her. “You can turn around now.”

“I like it,” Ladybug said as she turned around. “Simple, no-nonsense, and it reminds me of your Black Cats costume. What’s your Bee name going to be?”

“There’s an opportunity for a pun there, and I’m glad you didn’t take it,” she said.

Ladybug laughed. “Of course not, I’m not Chat Noir.”

They were both silent.

“I think I’ll call myself Hachi. It’s Japanese for bee. Like how Kuroi Neko means black cat,” Hachi said at last, breaking the silence.

“That’s good.” Ladybug sounded somewhat distracted. “Can I talk to Plagg in private?”

“Oh, sure,” Hachi said when her kwami nodded. She walked away, leaving Plagg behind.

“Plagg, I need to have a talk with Chat Noir when he gets back, but I don’t know if I can look him in the face after this whole debacle.” She sat down on the grass.

The kwami shook his head. “I tried to stop him. He thought he was doing what was best for you.”

“Maybe he was right, since now I have Kuroi Neko,” she started, then yelled, “but he could have talked to me!”

“Are things okay?” Hachi called.

“Yeah,” Ladybug called back.

Plagg snickered, then turned serious again. “Don’t be too hard on him. Between you and me, I agree, but at least I got good camembert out of it.”

Ladybug sighed. “You’d do anything for camembert.”

“Almost anything,” Plagg corrected. “This really pushed the boundary.”

“How would you feel about another new holder?” she asked suddenly, hastily adding, “Don’t tell Kuroi Neko or Chat Noir though.” 

“No.” Plagg recoiled. “Why?”

“Because I can’t trust him after he went rogue like that. I didn’t know Kuroi Neko was going to be here. I didn’t know he’d reveal his identity. He didn’t tell me anything, and this is important.”

He didn’t like where this was going. “What about keeping Kuroi Neko? She gives me a lot of cheese.”

Shaking her head, she explained, “She knows Chat Noir. Either it’ll hurt their friendship, or she’ll give him back the miraculous.”

“I guess it’s up to you. But I want to say goodbye to Chat again and get one last piece of cheese from him.” Plagg was visibly sad about this.

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “You will see him one last time. I’ll let Kuroi Neko give him the miraculous back when he returns. But don’t tell anyone you know about this, please?”

“Okay,” Plagg reluctantly agreed. If only Marinette knew she was taking away Adrien’s miraculous. “Do you know who you’re going to give the miraculous to?”

“Not yet, but I have the rest of today and tomorrow to decide. Thanks, Plagg.” Ladybug smiled tentatively, trying to be brave. She was going to miss Chat Noir, and she was going to struggle to replace him. She turned to Hachi and called, “Okay, we’re done here.”

“I hope your conversation went well,” Hachi said warily.

“It did,” Ladybug decided. Well, she thought it went as well as it could, given the topic. “I can’t talk more now, but remember, you can keep the cookies and the miraculous. But I think Kuroi Neko would be better for our fights until you give Chat back his miraculous.” Then she swung off.

“Thanks.” Hachi was grateful for Ladybug’s kindness. Maybe she couldn’t be Ryuko, and Ladybug hadn’t agreed to her being the black cat, but Ladybug was willing to give her a miraculous to keep nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kagami's staying on the team, but this isn't all happy... oh well, too bad.


	21. Double Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami fights as both Kuroi Neko and Hachi

Fueled by sugar, chocolate, and coffee from the macarons, Kuroi Neko had fought diligently when the next akuma struck that night. Viperion and Ladybug had both seemed disgruntled, and she guessed before they told her that they’d both had dates again. The akuma battle had been over relatively quickly because of that.

Maybe Hawk Moth had been busy after that, but there weren’t any more akumas until Saturday morning. Besides taking a practice run as Hachi through Paris after the akuma battle, Kagami had a restful night. Sleeping late meant she got nearly a full night’s sleep. She was starting to get her hopes up that maybe Saturday would be easier.

But Saturday morning brought with it another akuma soon after she woke up. Sneaking out, she took in the sight of the akuma from around a corner.

“At least we got some sleep, right?” Viperion looked at Ladybug as they ran from the akuma.

“Yeah, a few hours of sleep. Maybe I was up a little late after we got home,” she admitted. “How are we going to defeat this akuma?”

“With your lucky charm, I guess,” Kuroi Neko suggested, stepping into sight.

“Let’s see what it is. Lucky Charm!” Ladybug stared at the scarf floating into her hands and wrapped it around her forearm.

“What are we going to do with a scarf?” Viperion asked. “What can we use a scarf for?”

“It’s a piece of cloth. You can do a lot with a piece of cloth,” Kuroi Neko said. “Like tie an akuma up.”

“We’d have to get close to it first,” Ladybug said.

“Is immobilizing it still a good idea?” Kuroi Neko asked, an idea forming in her mind.

“Yes,” Ladybug said before her partner’s meaning dawned on her. “Oh. Yes.”

“Then use that scarf to distract her.” Kuroi Neko separated from the two again while Ladybug and Viperion distracted the akuma.

First, Kuroi Neko used her Cataclysm to get a large sign to start to topple. While it wobbled and began to fall, she hid and transformed into Hachi. Stunned by the falling object, it was easy to use Venom on the akuma. Then Hachi ran and transformed back into Kuroi Neko before rejoining Ladybug, who had by then purified the akuma.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Kuroi Neko held out her hand for a fist bump, after which Ladybug smiled at her. “Thanks for doing double duty, Kuroi Neko,” she said.

“I should thank you again for giving me the bee. Helping with it is the least I can do,” Kuroi Neko replied.

“You’re a permanent part of the team now?” Viperion said. “I’m going to like working with Kuroi Bee.”

“Hachi,” she corrected. “So, just bee.”

“Good name, Hachi,” Viperion said. He turned to Ladybug. “You found yourself a bee to replace Chloé.”

“I did.” Ladybug said happily. “Our team is going to have a ladybug, a snake, a bee, and… a black cat.” She hesitated, feeling guilty for something she hadn’t even done yet.

Viperion frowned at the expression on her face but decided she didn’t want to talk about it. Changing the focus slightly, he continued, “And sometimes, other holders. Are you going to add any of them to the team?”

“I don’t know yet.” If things improved with Alya, she might soon have a loyal fox again. But could she make her a permanent part of the team? She wasn’t sure.

“Might I suggest Marinette?” Viperion asked, something unidentifiable in his expression. “She’d be perfect for a miraculous.”

“I don’t think so,” Ladybug said, blushing. She was glad Viperion thought her civilian self was worthy of a miraculous. “Maybe I’ll look into it if I need to.”

Clearing her throat after a moment, Kuroi Neko said, “Chat Noir will be back tomorrow before noon.”

“Oh, about that,” Ladybug said, sobering. “Tell him that I want to speak to him when you give him back his miraculous. I’ll be transformed and waiting where you and I met last time.”

“He gets a welcome-home surprise, like those macarons?” Kuroi Neko asked.

“Something like that.” Ladybug was feeling worse by the minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's going to be some surprise


	22. Lila

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's had enough of Lila, finally

“You’re coming back in less than twenty-four hours?” Kagami asked. Adrien had asked to call her, since they both had time free after lunch.

“Yes, and I’m very happy about it,” Adrien replied. “I hope I can help Ladybug defeat Hawk Moth when I’m back.”

“You can fight alongside me again,” Kagami added. “I’m Hachi, the new bee.”

Feeling a little, but not very, sad for Chloé, Adrien said, “She found someone to replace Queen Bee.”

“She did. I helped defeat an akuma as both Kuroi Neko and Hachi, and it was fun, if tiring.”

“Which miraculous do you like more?” He liked being Chat Noir more than Aspik. He wondered what Kagami liked more.

“I’ve been the dragon, the black cat, and now the bee. I think the bee is the most straightforward, but you have that baton. Great weapon,” Kagami answered.

“It is when you know how to fence,” Adrien agreed.

He heard footsteps behind him and spun around to see Lila. “Oh, Adrien, there you are! Why are you hiding from me?” She batted her eyelashes. “Don’t you like me?”

“Tell her you don’t like her,” Kagami insisted. “She’s toxic.”

“Not when she can get me stranded in another country,” Adrien replied.

“We’ll talk about this tonight, okay?” Kagami had spent this entire week listening to him put up with Lila, and she thought he had to do something about it, even if it was just when they returned to Paris.

“Okay.” Adrien hung up and turned to Lila. “I’ll tolerate you if you stay away from my friends, okay?”

“They won’t stay your friends if you keep talking like that,” Lila replied without pause. “Just like with Marinette.”

Adrien went still. “Threatening me won’t make me like you, Lila. I’d be your friend if you’re nice to me and my friends, especially Marinette.”

“I didn’t threaten you.” Lila’s eyes widened, looking innocent. “People like what I tell them, and if you disagree, they won’t like you.”

Maybe she hadn’t acted in any movies, but Lila was a talented actress. Adrien regretted ever thinking she was even close to harmless.

At that moment, Nathalie appeared. “Adrien, Lila, it’s time to go. You have another event scheduled for now.”

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Nathalie,” he said as he walked by his father’s assistant.

Two akumas later, Kagami called Adrien. “Listen, I told you we were going to talk about Lila, and we will.”

“I believe you,” Adrien interrupted. “She threatened to turn all my friends against me.”

“That’s awful. Are you okay?” She’d kill Lila if the liar had done anything to her.

“Yeah, I am. And I’m going to tell her to stay away from me and Marinette as soon as we get back to Paris.”

“Marinette?” Well, Adrien had promised Kagami a date, so she didn’t feel nearly as competitive toward Marinette now. Instead, she was concerned about her friend.

“Lila got her expelled one time.”

Kagami started taking deep breaths to avoid her anger spiking further. She didn’t want to get turned into an akuma who could teleport to Italy and murder Lila in her sleep. Although that wasn’t a bad idea. Ladybug could bring her back.

“Kagami?” He was nervous that she hadn’t responded.

“I was just thinking about running Lila through with a sword,” she said, deadly calm.

“Ladybug can only bring her back if you’re akumatized first,” Adrien said in lieu of telling her not to stab Lila.

“Unfortunately, I have a miraculous now. I don’t want to be the next Chloé, I would be hard to beat.”

“I know.” He breathed in and said, “As soon as we’re back in Paris and off the plane, I promise I’ll tell her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wanting to run LIla through with a sword is relatable, isn't it


	23. Lilakuma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the title says it all

Kuroi Neko was waiting in the shadows as the plane landed. The idea was simple: step in if Lila moved to hurt Adrien. Maybe sprain her wrist for real.

Nathalie followed Adrien and Lila from a distance as the boy pulled her aside. From her hiding place, she caught every word of their brief altercation.

“Lila, we have to talk.”

“Of course we do.” She clung to his shoulder and peered up into his eyes. “When do you want me to come over to your place?”

With some effort, Adrien shook her off. “As long as you lie to everyone, threaten my friends, and disrespect my personal boundaries, I don’t want you anywhere near me, and I’m going to tell everyone you’re a liar!”

Lila narrowed her eyes. “Have it your way.” Smiling falsely, she got up in his face, forcing him to lean away from her. “You’re going to regret this, Adrien Agreste. You’ll thank your father when he pulls you out of school.”

Adrien recoiled as if slapped. Kagami knew how much school meant to him. He straightened and turned to walk away. “Best of luck, Lila.”

Lila almost screamed before something caught her attention. She waved at the sky. “Over here!”

Adrien looked where Lila was looking, and she followed their gaze. An akuma was flying toward Lila. Not wasting a second, Kuroi Neko jumped out of the shadows, using her baton to push Adrien away as she pinned Lila down. The little akuma picked up speed as Kuroi Neko attempted to drag an increasingly furious Lila away from it. Nathalie was pulling Adrien away, but he wasn’t following her.

“I can’t believe that after following that butterfly, I ended up fighting you over it,” Kuroi Neko said, controlling her temper. “Someone, get a container for it!”

“You’re hurting me,” Lila cried. “Why are you hurting me?”

Then she noticed Lila’s fingers reaching for her ring and backed away. “Nice distraction.”

“Thank you.” To her horror, Lila reached out, grabbed the akuma, and put it in one of her shiny new bracelets, presumably from Italy, which quickly turned dark. Kuroi Neko realized she was going to have to fight Lila Rossi as a powerful akuma. To make things worse, Lila grabbed a feather from the air and put it in another bracelet stacked on her wrist.

“Everyone, run!” Kuroi Neko shouted.

Alya had somehow heard that Adrien was returning, so she’d dragged Marinette out to the airport. And then they’d seen an akuma flying toward the airport.

“I’m going to run,” Marinette had said, taking off before Alya could pull out her phone to record. She transformed and swung into the airport from the other direction.

Kuroi Neko was swinging her baton, fighting off Lila. Except Lila was now completely metallic silver. Chains wrapped around her, lashing out like separate limbs. Behind her was a metallic monster with a large cage in its belly, lumbering toward Adrien, who finally took off running.

The sentimonster lunged at Adrien, soaring through the air. Nathalie knocked him out of the way as it landed, and the tongue made of chains wrapped around Nathalie and pulled her in. She landed in the cage making up the creature’s abdomen and started banging on the riblike metal bars.

“Nathalie!” Adrien shouted. “Lila, let her go!”

Lila whirled around, and chains wrapped around Nathalie inside the cage. “Give yourself up, Adrien, and I’ll let her go.”

“You’re not getting Adrien or anyone else!” Kuroi Neko shouted.

The chain appendages grabbed at the two heroes. Ladybug spun her yoyo to block one while retreating. Kuroi Neko ran to Adrien. “You have to get out of here.”

“I have to help you two. Give me my ring back,” Adrien said as Kuroi Neko picked him up and rushed him out of sight.

“Adrien’s back in town and Chat Noir shows up to the next fight?” She shook her head. “People will figure out your identity. Stay here.” She ran back to help.

Ladybug had a length of ladybug-spotted chain wrapped around her waist and was up on top of the small airplane. The sentimonster jumped and landed on the plane’s wing, which dipped and tipped the plane, throwing Ladybug off balance. Lila jumped up on the opposite wing, wrapping a chain around Ladybug’s leg.

Yelling “Cataclysm,” Kuroi Neko vaulted over and broke the chain as Ladybug skidded toward Lila.

“Thanks,” Ladybug said, then grabbed her and swung out of the way of the sentimonster’s snapping jaws.

“I need to feed Plagg,” Kuroi Neko said, ducking around a corner. “Plagg, claws in.” While waiting for Plagg to finish his camembert, she asked, “Where’s Viperion?”

“Busy with his family,” Ladybug replied. “Maybe he’ll get away and come help us, but I don’t think he can.” She didn’t mention that she was supposed to be there.

“We only get one try,” Kuroi Neko said when she’d transformed back. “Do you have a plan?”

“We have a length of chain. I guess we either have to use it on the sentimonster or on Lila.”

“Why not both?” Kuroi Neko asked. She moved to run toward the sentimonster, only for Ladybug to grab her tail. “What?”

“Don’t rush into anything,” Ladybug warned, not letting go of her partner’s tail.

“We’re just going to jump into the sentimonster’s mouth and make Lila follow us in.” Kuroi Neko saw the doubtful, surprised look on Ladybug’s face. “What? You’ve done crazy things before.”

Ladybug pointed down below, where Lila was stalking around. “Come out, come out wherever you are, Adrien,” she called. Her chain limbs lashed out and knocked over a stack of boxes next to a building on the side of the runway. “I’m starting to get angry, Adrien.”

“I don’t want her to catch him,” Ladybug started, “but we might need her to get close to catching him.”

“That’s dangerous,” Kuroi Neko replied.

“So is jumping into a sentimonster without a plan.” Although she’d done it before. “Fine. We’ll go with your idea.”

“Great.” Kuroi Neko launched herself at the sentimonster. Then Ladybug swung by, grabbing her arm, and pulled them over to the sentimonster. As the sentimonster went to pull them in, Ladybug pushed one end of the chain into Kuroi Neko’s hand. She jumped, wrapping the chain around the sentimonster’s tongue, and landed in its mouth, tying her end to one of its teeth. Kuroi Neko jumped into the sentimonster’s mouth after her and tied the other end of the chain to the other side of the sentimonster’s teeth.

The creature strained its jaws as heroes ran into its stomach.

“Come and get us, Lila!” Kuroi Neko shouted.

“After I get Adrien.” Chains flew from her hand and wrapped around Kuroi Neko, pinning her arms to her sides, wrapping around her hands to keep her from effectively using her Cataclysm.

“No!” Adrien burst out of hiding and ran for Lila, wielding a trash can lid.

Lila spun around, failing to chain up Ladybug first, and let her tentacle-like chain appendages reach for Adrien. He fought the best he could, but without his powers, he lost. A chain wrapped around his neck and lifted him off the ground. Two more held back his arms as Lila pulled him close. He was choking, unable to breathe.

“Let go of him,” Ladybug shouted. She had freed Nathalie and Kuroi Neko, and now she was trying to use the lucky charm chain to pry open the sentimonster’s mouth. It wasn’t working.

Lila tightened her hold on his neck, but then a mask came over her face. “I won’t let go of him, Hawk Moth,” she snapped.

In response, a white butterfly and a white feather floated out of her bracelets. In disbelief, Ladybug grabbed the chain and tossed it into the air, shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Free of the sentimonster, Nathalie, Ladybug, and Kuroi Neko ran over to Adrien, helping him to his feet. He leaned against Kuroi Neko and Ladybug. “I haven’t seen you around, Kuroi Neko, just on the news. You’re new?”

“Yes, just temporary. Ladybug can’t wait to see Chat Noir back, though,” she replied, trying to stay completely serious.

“I’ve missed him. He’s such a good hero, although not as good as Ladybug. You’re good too, you helped save me.” Clearly being a model helped him look innocent, but he was overdoing the act.

Rolling her eyes, Kuroi Neko let go of him and turned to Lila. “What were you thinking, getting yourself akumatized and trying to choke Adrien?”

“What are you talking about?” Lila asked.

“We don’t judge akuma victims,” Ladybug reminded Kuroi Neko.

“You picked it up and put it in your bracelet,” Kuroi Neko snapped.

“And I don’t regret anything I did. I just regret Hawk Moth taking away my powers before I took care of both of you,” Lila hissed. She turned and walked away.

Ladybug and Kuroi Neko looked at each other. “She’s a threat,” Adrien said, and the two nodded.

“I’m not letting her near you again,” Nathalie said. “I’ll talk to Gabriel about it.”

“Thanks, Nathalie,” Adrien said as she led him away.

Ladybug was surprised that she wasn’t a blushing mess around him. Maybe it was her anger at Lila. Maybe it was the knowledge that she was meeting with Luka after this. Her earrings beeped, shaking her out of her thoughts.

“I need to go find Chat Noir, he should be back by now,” Kuroi Neko said. “I’ll tell him to go to the park at our old meeting place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end of this story 
> 
> Yes, Lila did try killing Adrien, and Gabriel did stop her


	24. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tying some things up here with Gabriel and Nathalie, and Adrien and Kagami

When Adrien got home, Nathalie walked him to his room immediately. Not looking up from her tablet, she informed him, “Your father has cleared the rest of the day for you to stay in your room and relax after being targeted by Lila. He says she will not be attending any further photoshoots with you, either.”

“Thanks, Nathalie,” Adrien as the door to his room closed, leaving him alone.

Nathalie walked slowly down the hall away from Adrien’s room, checking to make sure she wasn’t being followed, and then ran to where Gabriel was waiting for her in their hidden room. He was staring at a spot on the wall and didn’t turn to look at her when she entered.

“We were so close,” he said at last. “And then she chained you up and hurt Adrien.”

She nodded along. He’d done the right thing by stopping before Adrien was seriously injured. “You can try again,” she reassured him. “I’m back now, so I can help you.”

“Yes, you can,” Gabriel replied. He handed over the peacock miraculous. “It’s fixed, and it works perfectly.”

“I saw your sentimonsters as proof of that,” Nathalie said. She didn’t like that he’d tested it out himself when it could have been dangerous, but when it worked, it had been spectacular. “They were great and very dangerous.”

“I wish you hadn’t been caught up in it.” Looking at the floor, he admitted, “I almost called it off when you were captured.”

“I never thought I was in serious danger,” she consoled him. “Even if I was hurt, you’d fix everything. I’ll do anything I can to help you win.”

“You’re right,” Gabriel said. “I won’t stop until I win.”

“When will we start our next attack?” Nathalie asked.

“When Adrien’s had enough time to get back his miraculous, if he’s Chat Noir,” Gabriel suggested.

Nathalie considered this. Wouldn’t he have gotten it again already, during the battle? She answered herself immediately when she realized it would have been too suspicious. “Tonight or tomorrow,” she decided aloud. “We can try both times.”

Of course, at that very moment, Kuroi Neko was climbing through Adrien’s window. She quickly detransformed, slipping the ring on Adrien’s finger as Plagg flew over to him. Pollen hovered by her side.

“I’ve missed you,” Plagg said, hugging Adrien. He didn’t try to hide his emotions, and Adrien was almost crying with happiness as he held his kwami.

“How are you?” Kagami asked. “I didn’t get to talk to you after the fight.”

“I can deal with Lila for you,” Plagg offered.

Twisting his ring familiarly, Adrien answered, “I have the rest of the day off to recover, and I’ve missed both of you, so we can talk. Plagg, you don’t need to deal with Lila. Nathalie and my father aren’t going to make me have more photoshoots with Lila.”

“But are you okay?” Kagami asked, noticing he’d avoided the question. “Lila choked you.”

He raised his hand to his throat, and Kagami understood. It was like the building falling on her, except he hadn’t had a choice or a suit to protect him. Someone had wanted to kill him. Someone had brought anger down on him, but she’d brought the building down on herself. The feeling lingered in one’s mind even after everything returned to normal. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been hit before, but I understand this is different. We don’t have to talk about it,” Kagami said. “But tell me if you want Hachi to stop by Lila’s house on her way home.”

“Thanks, but don’t kill Lila.” Adrien smiled at her. “I’ll be okay.”

“If I can’t kill Lila, can we at least stop Hawk Moth?” She knew her last plan had failed, but they were close.

“We can. You, me, Ladybug, and even Viperion.” Adrien looked hopeful.

“That reminds me, Ladybug wants to see you in the park. She has a surprise for you.” She smiled. “I hope it’s good. I can take you there.”

“I want my camembert first!” Plagg said. “I aged it for a week.” He found a piece of camembert that he’d left hidden in the room and started eating it. It was a lot, but he knew he wasn’t coming back for the rest if he left any.

“You hid camembert in here before we left?” He shook his head but smiled. He’d missed Plagg, smelly cheese and all.

“Of course.” When Plagg finished his cheese, he said, “I’m ready to leave now.”

“It took you long enough to eat that messy, smelly cheese,” Pollen said. “I’m ready, Kagami.”

“Pollen, buzz on!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

Hachi looked at Chat Noir with a smile, which he returned. Happiness surged within him, and he wanted to purr. It felt good to be transformed and to have Hachi at his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, how bittersweet 
> 
> One more chapter in this work


	25. Good-Bye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug goes through with a difficult decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank all of you again for the comments, kudos, and sticking with me through this story. You're all great. Now here's the final chapter of this work.

“Here we are,” Hachi said as she landed in the park. It was refreshing to race through the city with Chat Noir, even if they were trying not to be seen.

Chat Noir found it freeing after a week of being trapped with Lila, and he was kind of sad when they stopped. He hadn’t been able to get away without his powers, and this was his first time going out for fun with a friend in a while.

Then he spotted a red figure. “Ladybug!” He hurried over with Hachi at his side. “I haven’t seen you in a week. I’ve missed you.”

Ladybug looked at Chat Noir and Hachi hovering at his side, holding his hand. Hachi was going to be upset at what happened next. “I’ve missed you too,” Ladybug said. “But your friend here has been a good black cat. Good enough that I’m keeping her on the team.”

“Fighting alongside both of you ladies will be purr-fect.” He winked, and Ladybug rolled her eyes. To be honest, she was going to miss his distinct personality and puns.

“I’m going to have to talk to you alone now, Chat,” she said, getting serious. She looked at Hachi.

“I understand. I’ll leave. Meet up with me later, Chat,” Hachi told them as she left.

Ladybug closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gathered up the courage to say what she needed to. “Chat Noir, the stunt you pulled was shortsighted, dangerous, and unfair to me and Hachi.”

Her partner recoiled. “I’m sorry,” he said, looking at the ground. “But I thought you needed a partner.”

“I had Viperion. I had Rena Rouge. I could have pulled in as many allies as I wanted. I didn’t need you deciding what I need,” Ladybug told him. “We could have gotten into a lot of danger and trouble if something had gone wrong because of your poor decision.”

“I made a mistake. I just wanted to help you.” He looked genuinely regretful.

She spoke more softly as she continued, “What kind of partnership is it if we can’t be honest and trust each other?” 

“It isn’t one,” Chat Noir admitted. “Haven’t you kept things from me before?”

“I don’t anymore, unless it would reveal our identities.” She held his hands. “You can’t make major decisions like that without telling me.”

“I won’t do it again,” he promised.

She took in Chat Noir’s appearance one last time. “No, you won’t.”

Something in her tone made him freeze. “What do you mean?”

“You won’t make any more decisions for me or my team.” His expression fell, but she pushed on. “I’m going to find a new black cat who I can trust.”

No. No. No. “No,” he finally said out loud, pulling away from her. He suddenly felt claustrophobic, like everything was closing in around him. “Please, no,” he begged, his voice weak, his legs suddenly feeling too weak to stand on.

“I need a new black cat who will listen to me and not do something like give away their miraculous.” Her voice was steady and almost emotionless, hiding the guilt and pain she felt.

“What about Kuroi Neko?” he asked. “I can give it back to her.”

“You know who she is, and she’ll give it back to you, or it will hurt both of you. You seem rather close.” She’d thought about it already. She had another name in mind. “That’s why I made her Hachi.”

Chat Noir tried again, somewhat desperately. “You’ll know their identity then.”

“It’s worth the risk,” Ladybug said. She’d weighed it out. “Someone else knows your identity, someone less secure.”

“It was an accident,” Chat Noir protested. “I didn’t mean to reveal my identity to her.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that it happened.” Part of her wanted to know Chat Noir’s identity, but it was a risk, even if she was going to take his miraculous either way.

“Please, I want to be Chat Noir. I want to be your partner.” He was going to lose his only freedom.

“Your miraculous, Chat Noir.” Ladybug said. “I can’t trust you anymore.”

His head drooped. “Plagg, claws—”

“Not in front of me,” Ladybug interrupted. “Go around that corner, detransform, and have Plagg bring me your miraculous”

“I promise I’ll do everything right if you just let me stay,” he tried again. It was a desperate plea, but it was all he had. He had only just gotten his miraculous back. His kwami back. His freedom back. He didn’t want to lose everything again.

“No,” Ladybug insisted, trying to force steel into her voice.

“Okay.” He walked around the corner and slumped against the wall. “Plagg, claws in.”

“What’s going on?” Plagg asked, already knowing. Adrien was crying. “Are you okay?”

Adrien shook his head and touched his ring. “She wants it back.”

“Kid…” Yes, Ladybug had followed through with it. Plagg landed on Adrien’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

“She wants you to take my ring to her. She doesn’t want me to be Chat Noir anymore. I failed. She must hate me.”

He hadn’t failed, he’d just done too much. Plagg couldn’t find the words to comfort him. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’ll miss you.”

After a quick hug, Adrien fought to get a few words out. “Take the ring to my lady.” His voice broke on the end of the sentence. This was it. He wasn’t her partner anymore.

“Bye, Adrien.” Plagg pulled the ring from Adrien’s finger.

“Bye, Plagg.” He watched his kwami fly around the corner and out of sight for the last time.

Ladybug looked miserable when Plagg landed next to her. “You okay, Ladybug?”

“No, I just lost my best partner and my friend. Not that Kuroi Neko was bad, but she was only the black cat for a week,” Ladybug admitted. “I’ll never see him again.” It was hard to face that.

“Then give Chat back the miraculous,” Plagg suggested.

“I can’t after what he did. You know that.” Well, Plagg figured it had been worth a try. “And now… I need a new black cat.”

Plagg floated in front of Ladybug’s face. She could smell his cheese breath. “Have you figured out who it’ll be? Anyone you can trust?”

“Luka,” Ladybug said determinedly. “I’ll give Viperion the black cat miraculous. And since I still want to have a snake on my team, I’ll return the snake miraculous to Adrien because he’s had it before!”

It was only because of his time with an even more oblivious Adrien and the promise of cheese pastries from Marinette that Plagg didn’t scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more, but let's leave it at this cliffhanger here.  
> Stay tuned for a sequel!


End file.
